*!  I 

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QXQXQXQXQXOXQXQXQXQXQ^QXQXOXQXQXQXQXQXG)XQ 


UNIVERSAL  CLASSICS 
LIBRARY 


ILLUSTRATED 

WTH  PHOTOGRAWRE5  ON 
JAPAN  VELLVM,  ETCHINGS 


HAND  PAINTED  INDIA-PLATE 

REPRODVCTIONS.AND 

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OFAVTHORS. 


OXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO" 


M.WALTER  DUNNE, PUBLISHER 


WASHINGTON  fcr  LONDON 


M.  WALT  ER    DUNNE, 

PUBLISHER 


•BS^^ 


LITERATURE 


BARGAIN 


Hand-painted  photogravure  after  the  original  painting. 

THE    POETS    AND   POETRY 
OF    TURKEY    <+•    <* 


!.  W.  GIBB 


THEO1 


OTTOMAN 
LITERATURE 


THE  POETS  AND  POETRY 
OF  TURKEY  «*, 


TRANSLATED  FROM  THE 
ARABIC  WITH  INTRODUCTION 
AND  BIOGRAPHICAL  NOTES 


E.  J.  W.  GIBB 

Member  of  the  Royal  Asiatic  Society 


ARABIAN,  PERSIAN,  AND 
HEBREW  POEMS,  AND  A 
SPECIAL  INTRODUCTION 


THEODORE   P.  ION,  J.D. 

National  University,  Washington,  D.  C. 


N.WALTER  DUN'NE,PUBLISHER 

WASHINGTON  &  LONDON 


COPYRIGHT,  1901, 

BY 

M.  WALTER    DUNNE, 

PUBLISHER 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


A  FAIR  BARGAIN Frontispiece 

Hand-painted  photogravure  after  the  original  painting 

THE  MORNING  BATH 52 

Photogravure  after  the  painting  by  Gerome 

THOSE  DEAR  WOMEN  ! 197 

Photogravure  after  the  painting  by  de  Beaumont 


(vii) 


SPECIAL  INTRODUCTION 


OF  LATE  years  explorers  of  human  thought  have  taken  a 
bolder  step  in  their  researches  for  the  discovery  of  the 
progress  achieved  by  the  human  intellect,  not  only 
of  people  akin  to  us,  but  also  of  races  with  whom  we  differ 
in  more  than  one  respect.  The  Turks  or  Ottomans,  though 
known  as  a  body  politic,  are  still  unknown,  as  far  as  their 
intellectual  development  is  concerned.  The  attempt  made 
recently  to  bring  to  light  some  specimens  of  their  best 
thoughts,  will  no  doubt  help  us  to  examine  them  from  a  dif- 
ferent point  of  view  than  that  to  which  we  have  been  hith- 
erto accustomed.  They  in  their  turn,  on  account  of  some 
peculiar  prejudices  of  their  own,  be  they  the  outgrowth  of 
their  education  or  the  result  of  the  erroneous  interpretation 
of  some  tenets  of  their  religion,  shunned,  ever  since  their 
early  days,  everything  alien  to  and  inconsistent  with  the 
trend  of  their  thoughts  and  tendencies.  Their  eyes  being 
constantly  fixed,  not  toward  the  West,  the  seat  of  modern, 
but  toward  the  East,  the  shrine  of  ancient  civilization,  and 
the  country  of  their  birth,  it  was  natural  for  them  to  look 
for  aid  to  the  country  of  (<  the  Great  Kings, w  whenever 
they  felt  the  necessity  of  engrafting  upon  their  intellectual 
culture  new  or  better  ideas.  It  was  from  Persia  that  their 
poets  drew  their  inspiration ;  it  was  from  the  literature  of 
these  (<  barbarians "  that  they  shaped  numerous  words  and 
expressions  of  their  poor  Tartaric  tongue.  It  is  therefore 
through  Persian,  a  language  akin  to  Greek  and  Latin,  on 
account  of  their  Sanskrit  origin,  that  Turkish  is  in  some 
way  connected  with  the  Western  languages. 

On  the  other  hand,  their  conversion  to  the  teachings  of 
Mohammed  drew  all  their  attention  to  the  study  of  the 
captivating  language  of  the  w  holy  book."  The  Koran  has 

(ix) 


x  OTTOMAN   LITERATURE 

always  been  and  still  is  the  first  and  last  book  of  the 
<(  faithful. })  The  study  of  Arabic  has  therefore  been,  ever 
since  that  time,  the  corner  stone  of  the  education  of  every 
Osmanli.  The  influence  of  that  language  was  so  great  that 
even  the  moods  and  tenses  of  the  Turkish  grammar  had  to 
be  remodeled  according  to  those  of  the  tongue  of  the 
<(  Prophet, w  much  to  the  advantage  of  the  former.  To  use 
Arabic  words  and  expressions,  intermingled  with  Persian, 
was  considered  a  high  attainment  of  proficiency  by  Turks 
aspiring  to  literary  fame.  Thus  the  original  Tartaric  dialect 
of  the  Ottomans,  blended  with  the  refined  and  melodious 
language  of  the  Arabs,  and  the  sweet  and  harmonious  tongue 
of  the  former  followers  of  Zoroaster,  formed  what  might  be 
called  the  literary  Turkish.  Hence  the  variety  in  the  ex- 
pressions and  the  richness  of  the  words  of  the  literature  of 
the  Ottomans.  The  works  of  famous  Persian  poets,  such  as 
those  of  the  witty  Saadi,  the  lyrical  Hafiz,  and  the  mystic 
Dzelaleddin,  were  the  constant  companions,  both  of  the 
Sultans  of  Stamboul  and  their  high  dignitaries  of  State, 
while  Ibn  Haldun,  the  Arabian  Herodotus,  Beizavi,  the  great 
commentator  of  the  Koran,  and  Hairi,  the  popular  poet  of 
the  Arabs,  were  only  read  by  the  cultured. 

It  is  therefore  no  wonder  that  under  such  influences,  the 
Turks  by  their  writings  gave  a  new  lustre  to  Oriental 
literature.  Nor  has  this  emulation  been  slackened  in  any 
way  during  our  days,  notwithstanding  the  difficulties  under 
which  the  Turkish  writers  are  now  laboring. 

Turkish,  as  every  other  language,  has  had  its  evolution. 
The  old  ponderous  style  has  been  simplified  and  rendered 
more  accessible  to  the  masses.  The  knowledge  therefore  of 
literary  Turkish,  is  not  as  formerly  the  privilege  of  a  select 
class.  It  is  to  Shinassi  that  is  attributed  the  first  attempt 
of  simplification.  He  is  with  justice  regarded  as  the  father 
of  the  modern  school.  Many  followed  his  example,  and 
among  them  Kemal  Bey  was  the  shining  star  of  the  Turk- 
ish literary  world.  His  vigorous  language  imparted  new  life 
to  Turkish.  No  author  in  his  country  seems  as  yet  to  have 
equaled  him,  either  in  imagination  or  in  the  descriptions  of 
nature  and  people.  His  verses  on  <(  patriotism  M —  possibly 
the  first  ever  written  in  that  language  —  had  aroused 


SPECIAL   INTRODUCTION  xi 

at  the  time  the  enthusiasm  of  the  w  indolent  Ottomans. w 
On  the  other  hand,  his  historical  novel  Tzesmi,  the  romance 
running  through  it  of  a  young  Turkish  warrior  gifted  with 
poetical  talent,  and  a  Persian  Princess,  and  some  other  writ- 
ings, made  him  the  most  famous  Turkish  author  of  his 
century.  Saadullah  Pacha's  style  and  Said  Bey's  judicious 
observations  on  the  language,  were  also  held  in  high 
esteem. 

Among  contemporary  prose  writers  foremost  of  all  is 
Midhat  Effendi,  the  able  editor  of  the  Hakikat,  the 
<(  Truth. w  No  Turk  has  ever  written  so  much  as  this  au- 
thor. His  influence  on  the  language  has  been  most  bene- 
ficial on  account  of  its  further  simplification  by  reducing  it 
to  shorter  instead  of  the  former  long  and  endless  sentences. 
Besides  translating  most  successfully  a  great  number  of 
French  works,  he  wrote  some  original  novels  depicting 
modern  Turkish  life  and  customs,  which  placed  him  in  the 
first  rank  among  the  writers  of  Turkey.  His  defense  of 
Mohammedanism,  on  the  other  hand,  carried  his  fame  be- 
yond the  confines  of  the  Ottoman  Empire. 

The  late  State  historian  Dzevdet  Pacha  occupies  also  a 
most  conspicuous  place  in  Turkish  literature.  His  history 
of  the  Ottoman  Empire  is  admired  for  its  style,  while  his 
works  on  the  principles  of  Arabic  philosophy,  and  the 
leading  part  he  took  in  the  codification  of  the  civil  law, 
proved  him  not  only  an  excellent  writer,  but  also  a  dis- 
tinguished jurist,  though  he  is  not  unfettered  from  the  prej- 
udices of  his  time  and  environment.  In  his  daughter  Fa- 
time  Alie,  Turkish  women  found  a  determined  champion 
of  their  actual  condition.  The  authoress  in  her  book  on 
women,  defends  even  (<  domestic  slavery, w  considering  it  not 
a  very  unsatisfactory  condition  of  men  and  women,  com- 
pared to  that  of  the  poor  class  of  the  Western  people. 

Abdul  Hak  Hamid's  theatrical  works,  on  the  other  hand, 
gave  an  impetus  to  Turkish  authors  in  that  line,  which  had 
been  hitherto  unknown,  although  some  feeble  attempts  had 
been  formerly  made.  In  fact,  tragedy  or  drama  does  not 
seem  to  agree  with  the  genius  of  the  Turkish  people  and 
did  not,  therefore,  prove  successful.  The  novels  of  this  au- 
thor describing  the  life  of  the  Moors  and  their  ancient 


xii  OTTOMAN   LITERATURE 

splendor  were,  however,  welcomed  by  the  Ottomans,  not 
only  on  account  of  their  intrinsic  value,  but  also  because 
they  saw  in  them  the  glorification  of  Mohammedan  civili- 
zation. 

The  Turks,  as  other  Oriental  people,  displayed  a  remark- 
able talent  for  versification.  Being  rather  disciples  of  the 
Persians  than  the  Arabs,  in  poetry  they  were  entirely  car- 
ried away  by  the  thoughts  of  the  authors  of  Ispahan  and 
Shiraz,  as  being  more  adapted  to  their  idiosyncrasy  and 
genius.  These  were  their  guiding  spirits,  whether  they  in- 
dulged in  witty  versification,  lyrical  poetry,  or  in  the  de- 
scription of  the  charms  of  contemplative  life.  Satirical 
poetry  also  proved  to  be  an  excellent  weapon  in  the  hands 
of  Turkish  Effendis.  The  late  Zia  Pacha  was  a  clever  sat- 
irist, and  his  caustic  verses  were  relished  by  his  friends  and 
admirers.  Nor  was  the  talent  of  this  author  confined  to  the 
exposure  of  the  weaknesses  of  his  enemies.  His  poetry  in 
general  made  him  one  of  the  most  prominent  Turkish  writers 
of  modern  times.  His  eulogies  of  the  late  Sultan  Aziz, 
though  tinged  with  that  Oriental  obsequiousness  customary  to 
Eastern  writers,  are  nevertheless  appreciated  for  their  excellent 
versification.  But  above  all,  his  lyrical  poetry  and  his 
verses  devoted  to  the  sufferings  of  a  lover  on  being  sepa- 
rated from  his  beloved,  and  generally  his  love  songs,  have 
with  justice  acquired  for  him  a  well-deserved  fame. 

In  Ottoman  and  generally  in  Oriental  poetry  we  may  in 
vain  look  for  anything  capable  of  arousing  the  spirits  or 
exalting  the  imagination.  The  Eastern  poet  seeks  simply 
to  express  his  sorrow  and  affliction.  It  is  his  grievance, 
and  not  his  joy,  that  he  strives  to  show  in  the  most  pa- 
thetic manner  possible.  It  is  by  these  dismal  effusions  of 
his  saddened  heart,  that  he  seeks  to  take  us  into  his  confi- 
dence, looking  for  consolation  and  relief.  Turkish  poetry, 
besides,  should  be  appreciated  on  its  own  merits,  and  not 
be  judged  by  our  standard;  not  by  our  own  conception  as 
to  its  value,  but  according  to  the  effect  it  produces  upon 
the  people  for  whom  it  is  written.  If  these  relish  it  ;  if  it 
goes  to  their  very  heart,  then  it  should  be  conceded  that 
such  poetry  responds  to  the  genius  of  the  people,  and  that 
they  are  the  best  judges  as  to  its  merit  and  value.  It  may 


SPECIAL   INTRODUCTION  xiii 

sometimes  be  difficult  for  an  alien  to  grasp  the  real  mean- 
ing of  the  poet's  thought,  when  these  are  shaped  into  an- 
other ttJngue.  It  may  even  be  sometimes  impossible  to  give 
in  a  foreign  idiom  certain  ideas  of  the  poet,  which  may  be 
so  interwoven  with  Oriental  mysticism,  that  any  attempt  to 
discover  their  true  meaning  might  be  considered  by  the 
(<  pious  dervish M  as  a  sacrilege.  It  is  with  that  spirit  that 
we  should  judge  Turkish  or  Oriental  poetry,  if  we  wish  to 
render  justice  to  its  writers. 


CONTENTS 

INTRODUCTION 

PAGE 

I.     GENERAL  CHARACTER  OF  OTTOMAN  POETRY i 

II.     OTTOMAN  VERSE-FORMS   AND  METRES 14 

III.     RISE  AND  PROGRESS  OF  OTTOMAN  POETRY 25 

OTTOMAN  POETS  TRANSLATIONS    BIOGRAPHIES 

PAGE  PAGE 

'Ashiq  Pasha 35  199 

Ahmed/ 36  199 

Sheykhz 39  201 

Yaziji-Oglu 42  203 

Sultan  Murad  II 45  203 

'Avnz'  (Sultan  Muhammed  II. ) 46  203 

•Aden/  (Mahm«d  Pasha) 49  206 

Afitabz. 51  206 

Zeyneb 52  206 

Prince  Jem 53  2.07 

Ahmed  Pasha 55  209 

Nejatz* 56  an 

Meszhz 61  213 

Harzmz'  (Prince  Qorqud) 65  215 

Mihrz' 66  215 

Selzmz  (Sultan  Selzm  I.) 68  216 

Muhibbz  (Sultan  Suleyman  I.) 69  217 

Figtf  nz 71  219 

Lami'z' 72  219 

Kernel  Pasha-Zada 76  221 

Gazalz* 77  222 

Ishaq  Chelebi 79  223 

Zatt 80  223 

Lutf/ 81  224 

Mukhlis/  (Prince  Mustafa) 82  225 

Khiyalz. 83  225 

Shah/  (Prince  Bayez/d) 84  225 

Fuzwlz' 85  226 

Fazl/ 98  226 

Nisham 100  227 

Sel/mz  (Sultan  Sel/m  II. )  . .    101  228 

Shems/  Pasha 104  228 

Yahya  Beg 105  229 

(xv) 


xvi  CONTENTS 

OTTOMAN  POETS  —  Continued  TRANSLATIONS     BIOGRAPHIES 

PAGE  PAGE 

Murad/  (Sultan  Murad  III.) 106  230 

Baq/ 107  231 

•Adi/  (Sultan  Muhammed  III.) 129  234 

Bakht/  (Sultan  Ahmed  I. ) 130  235 

Paris/  (Sultan  'Osman  II. ) 131  235 

•Ata'/ 132  235 

Nef'/ 134  236 

Hafiz  Pasha  135  236 

Murad/  (Sultan  Murad  IV. ) 136  237 

•Az/z/ 139  238 

Na'il* 141  239 

Sidq/ 143  239 

Iqbal/  (Sultan  Mustafa  II. ) 144  239 

Nab/ 145  239 

•Ant 150  240 

Ned/m 154  240 

Sabqat/  (Sultan  Mahm#d  I. ) 155  240 

Bel/g 156  241 

Sam/ 158  241 

Nev-res 161  241 

Shah/n  Giray  (Khan  of  the  Crimea) ....     162  242 

Galib 164  243 

Fitnet  Khanim 168  243 

Ilham/  (Sultan  Sel/m  III. ) 171  243 

Fazil  Beg 173  244 

Wasif 177  245 

Ramiz  Pasha 183  246 

'Izzet  Molla 184  246 

'Adi/  (Sultan  Mahm^d  II.) 186  246 

Leyla  Khanim 187  246 

Ziya  Beg 193  248 

NOTES 249 

THE  LOVE-SONG  OF  KING  SULEIMAN 285 

ARABIAN  AND  PERSIAN  POEMS 299 

Firdausi 301 

Khakani 307 

Sa'di 308 

Nizami 311 

Rumi 314 

Hafiz 317 

Djami 328 

Amriolkais 338 

Zohair 340 

Antara 342 

Asadi 344 


INTRODUCTION 


I.— GENERAL  CHARACTER  OF  OTTOMAN 
POETRY 

ARABIAN  and   Persian   literature    have   ior  a  considerable 
period  received  the  attention  of  Western  scholars,  and 
translations  and   editions    of    several    of  the    most   es- 
teemed   works    in  these    two    languages  have  from  time    to 
time  appeared  in  Europe ;  but  the  literature,  and  especially 
the  poetical  literature,   of  the  Ottoman  Turks,   the    most    il- 
lustrious family  of  the  third  great  race  of  Islam,   has  been, 
with  a  few  exceptions,  notably  that  of  Von  Hammer,  almost 
entirely  neglected  by  European  Orientalists. 

The  cause  of  this  is  hard  to  ascertain.  It  might  have  been 
thought  that  the  facts  of  the  Ottoman  Turks  being  in  Europe 
and  having,  for  upward  of  five  centuries,  been  in  close  con- 
tact with  various  European  peoples,  would  have  had  for  a 
result  a  more  intimate  acquaintance  on  the  part  of  the  lat- 
ter with  the  studies  and  pursuits  of  their  Muslim  neigh- 
bors, than  with  those  of  the  remoter  nations  of  Asia.  But 
it  may  be  that  these  very  circumstances  of  proximity  and 
intercourse,  which  might  have  been  conceived  as  furthering 
a  European  interest  in  the  inner  life  and  modes  of  thought 
of  that  wondrous  and  gifted  shepherd  clan  which  has  played 
so  brilliant  a  part  in  the  world's  history,  have  acted  in 
an  exactly  contrary  manner.  It  may  well  be  that  affrighted 
Europe,  when  she  saw  the  Crescent  gleaming  over  Con- 
stantinople, and  heard  the  legions  of  Islam  thundering  at 
the  gates  of  Vienna,  wished  rather  to  shield  herself  from 
their  dreaded  scimitar  than  to  inquire  whence  that  race  of 
nomad  warriors,  before  whom  she  trembled,  were  inspired 
with  the  dauntless  valor,  and  the  matchless  devotion,  which 
i  (i) 


2  INTRODUCTION 

bore  them  so  bravely  on.  But  the  Ottomans  have  long 
ceased  to  be  aggressive,  and  such  influences  must  have  died 
out  many  years  ago :  terror  gave  place  to  hatred,  not  un- 
natural at  first,  but  wholly  unjust  now;  unless,  indeed,  we 
are  to  hold  a  people  guilty  of  the  crimes  of  their  ancestors 
— if  so,  who  can  escape  condemnation? 

Antipathy  of  race  and  religious  bigotry  are  virulent  and 
hard  to  kill  (unhappily,  they  exist  to  this  day,  scarcely  less 
unjust  and  cruel  than  in  bygone  times),  and  it  is  difficult 
not  to  think  that  these  are  in  some  measure  responsible  for 
the  gross  ignorance  that  almost  universally  prevails,  in  Eng- 
land at  any  rate,  regarding  Turkey  and  all  things  Turkish. 

To  select  one  striking  example :  but  recently  did  the 
writer  of  these  pages  read  in  a  popular  religious  magazine 
that,  <(  in  Mohammedan  countries  (meaning  Turkey),  Woman 
is  treated  as  having  no  soul.*  This  mediaeval  delusion  of 
Islam's  denying  a  soul  to  Woman  has  been  clearly  and  de- 
cisively refuted  by  Mr.  Redhouse,*  who  quotes  passage 
after  passage  of  the  Quran,  showing  how  utterly  false  it  is 
—  how  Islam  in  reality  no  more  denies  Woman  a  soul  than 
does  Christianity  itself.  Possibly  enough,  this  calumny  may 
have  arisen  in  error  ;  but  to  proclaim  it  to-day  shows,  on 
the  part  of  the  traducer,  either  almost  criminal  ignorance, 
for  it  is,  very  wrong  to  condemn  where  one  does  not 
understand,  or  vile  dishonesty,  for  it  is  vilely  dishonest 
knowingly  to  propagate  a  lie.  Yet  the  writer  of  the  article 
in  question  was  a  missionary  in  Turkey!  Either  he  had, 
as  we  hope  and  believe,  not  taken  the  trouble  to  learn  any- 
thing of  the  truth  about  the  faith  of  the  people  among 
whom  he  lived,  never  hesitating  all  the  same  to  pass  ad- 
verse judgment  thereon ;  or  he  stood  greatly  in  need  of  some 
one  to  expound  to  him  the  Ninth  Commandment,  f 

*  On  the  (<  History,  System  and  Varieties  of  Turkish  Poetry, »  etc. ,  pp. 
7-10. 

f  For  an  exhaustive  and  correct  account  of  Islam  and  its  Founder, 
the  reader  is  referred  to  Seyyid  Ameer  Ali's  w  Critical  Examination 
of  the  Life  and  Teachings  of  Mohammed  w  (London:  Williams  and 
Norgate).  This  is  by  far  the  best  English  work  on  the  Prophet  and 
his  Creed  that  I  have  read,  and  I  would  strongly  recommend  its  care- 
ful perusal  to  all  who  desire  to  understand  the  teaching  of  the  great 
Arabian  Lawgiver. 


OTTOMAN   POEMS  3 

It  is  not  unfrequently  said  by  the  class  of  persons  to 
which  our  missionary  belongs,  i.  e.,  those  who  pass  judg- 
ment on  what  they  know  nothing  about  —  and  it  may  tend 
to  discourage  the  study  of  Turkish  —  that  the  Turks  are  a 
barbarous  people,  possessed  of  no  literature.  To  such  an 
assertion  as  this,  no  better  answer  can  be  given  than  that 
Von  Hammer-Purgstall,  in  his  great  work,  Die  Geschichte 
der  Osmanischen  Dichtkunst,  gives  translated  extracts  from 
two  thousand  two  hundred  Ottoman  poets.  Although 
perhaps  poetry  has  been  cultivated  in  Turkey  with  greater 
assiduity  than  any  other  branch  of  literature,  yet  the  bare 
mention  of  the  names  and  works  of  her  most  brilliant  his- 
torians and  romancers,  and  most  gifted  philosophic  and 
scientific  authors,  would  fill  a  goodly  volume.  There  exist 
in  Turkish  many  works  famous  throughout  the  East,  on 
Astronomy,  Astrology,  Mathematics,  Rhetoric,  Ethics,  The- 
ology, Jurisprudence,  Exegesis,  Medicine,  Chemistry,  Ge- 
ography, History,  Chronology,  Biography,  and~all  the  other 
sciences  of  the  Muslims ;  but  writers  of  no  class  are  more 
frequently  to  be  met  with  in  the  pages  of  the  Ottoman 
biographers  than  poets,  that  class  of  writers  whose  very 
existence  bears  witness  to  the  presence  of  national  culture 
and  refinement.  Of  the  two  thousand  two  hundred  authors 
whose  names  are  enshrined  in  Von  Hammer's  volumes,  many 
indeed  scarcely  deserve  the  name  of  poets,  and  owe  their 
place  there  merely  to  some  little  gazel,  or,  it  may  be,  only 
to  a  stray  beyt,  or  distich,  preserved  in  the  pages  of  some 
friendly  biographer;  for  the  distinguished  Orientalist  of 
Vienna,  being  at  great  pains  to  give  a  complete  picture  of 
the  history  of  Ottoman  Poetry,  has  inserted  in  his  work  al- 
most all  that  can  be  gleaned  from  the  Turkish  Tezkeras, 
or  biographies.  As  is  the  case  in  the  literary  history  of 
every  people,  but  comparatively  few  of  these  Ottoman  versi- 
fiers can  be  regarded  as  really  great  poets ;  yet  perhaps 
'^4shiq  Pasha  is  not  very  far  behind  his  great  prototype, 
the  immortal  Mevlana  Jelalu-'d-Dzn,  the  author  of  the  Mes- 
nevi ;  the  gazels  of  Baq/,  in  elegance  of  diction  and  depth 
of  feeling,  rival  those  of  Hatfiz ;  and  the  romances  of  Lami's 
yield  not  one  whit  in  loveliness  to  the  works  of  Jarm  or 
Nizanu.  Yet  these  four  Persian  authors  stand  in  the  fore- 


4  INTRODUCTION 

front  of  the  ranks  of  the  poets  of  /ran,  and  in  the  whole 
history  of  the  literature  of  her  nations,  earth  can  show  few 
names  more  illustrious  than  theirs.  It  will  thus  be  seen  that 
whatever  be  the  cause  of  the  neglect  in  this  country  of  the 
study  of  Ottoman  Poetry,  it  is  not  due  to  the  absence  of 
poets  or  to  the  quality  of  their  effusions. 

The  difficulty  of  the  language  in  which  it  is  written,  and 
the  scarcity,  till  within  recent  years,  of  trustworthy  gram- 
mars and  dictionaries,  have,  no  doubt,  helped  to  discourage 
the  study  of  Ottoman  literature ;  while  those  scholars  who 
have  surmounted  these  preliminary  obstacles  have  probably 
been  deterred  by  the  absence  of  originality  which  character- 
izes the  poetry  of  the  'Osmanlis  from  presenting  many 
specimens  to  the  European  public,  preferring  to  go  direct 
to  Persia,  the  fountain-head,  where  springs  the  stream  that 
fructifies  the  garden  of  Turkish  verse. 

Now  look  we  a  little  more  closely  at  this  Ottoman  Poe- 
try, its  character,  and  the  circumstances  which  tended  to 
form  the  same. 

As  the  poetry  of  the  Ottomans  is  altogether  founded  upon 
that  of  the  Persians,  just  as  the  literature  of  the  European 
nation  is  the  offspring  of  the  writings  of  Rome  and  Greece, 
it  will  be  well  in  the  first  place  to  cast  a  glance  toward 
Iran.  The  poetry,  then,  of  the  Persians,  and,  therefore, 
that  of  their  imitators,  Turks,  Muslim  Indians,  Afghans, 
etc.,  is  essentially  an  art.  There  is  a  limited  (considerable 
enough,  it  is  true,  but  yet  limited)  number  of  metres  and 
variations  of  metres,  each  of  which  is  divided  into  a  definite 
number  of  feet,  which,  in  their  turn,  are  divided  into  a 
determined  number  of  long  and  short  (or,  as  the  Orientals 
call  them,  heavy  and  light)  syllables,  following  one  another 
in  a  particular  order,  which  may  not  be  altered ;  and  in  one 
or  other  of  these  metres,  or  variations  of  metres,  the  author 
is  bound  to  write  his  poem.  Some  of  these  metres  are  ap- 
propriated to  one  style  of  composition,  one  form  of  poem, 
and  certain  others  to  another  form.  Again,  there  is  a  defi- 
nite number  of  verse-forms,  some  of  Arabian,  some  of 
Persian  origin  (such  as  the  quas\da,  gazel,  etc.,  which 
will  be  explained  afterward),  in  one  of  which  the  poet 
must  write  :  he  is  no  more  permitted  to  link  lines 


OTTOMAN   POEMS  5 

together  in  any  way  he  chooses,  than  he  may  compose  those 
lines  of  any  number  of  syllables  in  any  order  he  pleases ; 
he  is  bound  to  observe  the  rules  of  the  art. 

It  is  almost  a  rule  that  the  subjects  of  gazels  (the  form 
of  verse  in  which  a  great  portion  of  Persian  and  Ottoman 
Poetry  is  composed)  be  the  beauty  of  a  lady,  the  sufferings 
of  her  lover,  the  charms  of  spring,  and  the  delights  of 
wine ;  the  natural  result  of  which  is  very  frequently  a  cer- 
tain monotony  and  sameness  among  the  various  gazels  of  an 
author,  indeed,  of  many  authors.  It  requires  a  poet  of  ex- 
ceptional originality  to  compose  three  or  four  hundred  of 
these  little  odes,  usually  of  from  five  to  twelve  couplets 
each,  on  the  same  subjects,  without  repetition  of  expression 
or  sentiment,  and  without  borrowing  from  the  works  of 
previous  writers.  The  great  number  and  variety  of  curious 
conceits  that  enter  into  the  belles  lettres  of  the  East,  and 
are  so  highly  prized  by  scholarly  Orientals,  show  very 
clearly  the  artificial  character  of  Persian,  and  consequently 
of  Ottoman,  poetry.  But  apart  from  the  necessity  of  com- 
posing in  the  recognized  forms,  and  the  advisableness  — 
almost  amounting  to  a  necessity  —  of  writing,  in  gazels,  on 
certain  set  subjects,  the  poet  is  allowed  the  freest  possible 
scope  for  the  display  of  his  individual  talent,  and  of  the 
bent  of  his  genius.  Such  is  the  general  external  character 
of  the  poetry  of  the  Persians,  a  character  which,  in  all 
its  details,  has  been  adopted  by  the  Ottomans. 

The  poetry  of  Muhammedan  Persia,  though  based  upon 
the  Arabian  system,  comprises  much,  in  sentiment,  expres- 
sion, form,  and  subject,  that  is  not  Arabian,  but  pure, 
native  Persian.  It  is  not  so  with  that  of  Turkey,  where 
nothing  is  native,  nothing  Tatar,  saving  the  language  in 
which  it  is  written.  On  every  page  of  a  Persian  author 
we  see  allusions  to  the  old  religion  and  the  ancient  heroes 
of  Iran ;  but  vainly  do  we  look,  from  end  to  end,  through 
the  works  of  an  Ottoman  poet  for  any  reference,  however 
slight,  to  the  religion  and  traditions  of  those  Central  Asian 
deserts  whence  his  nation  came.  Religion  and  traditions, 
and  not  unromantic  either,  we  know  they  had ;  but  while 
we  are  continually  encountering  the  Persians,  Rustem  and 
Jemshzd  Key-Khusrev  and  Ferz'dan,  nowhere  in  the  writings 


6  INTRODUCTION 

of  their  descendants  can  we  catch  a  glimpse  of  Uguz  or  of 
Guk  Khan,  w  Prince  of  the  Sky."  These  old  semi-legendary 
kings  and  champions  of  ancient  Persia  stand  in  precisely 
the  same  relation  to  Ottoman  literature  as  do  the  gods  and 
heroes  of  classic  Greece  and  Rome  to  that  of  Western 
Europe ;  the  Ottomans  finding  them  frequently  referred  to 
by  their  Persian  models,  have  introduced  them  no  less  fre- 
quently, and  in  exactly  the  same  relations,  into  their  own 
writings ;  just  as  the  Frankish  nations  have  preserved  in 
their  poetry  many  an  old  pagan  fancy  which  they  found  in 
the  authors  of  Greece  and  Rome,  such  as  the  Graces  and 
the  Fates,  Diana's  bow,  and  Phoebus'  rays.  But  there  is 
another  series  of  ancient  stories,  another  group  of  stately 
figures,  scarcely  less  frequently  to  be  met  with  than  those, 
common,  this  time,  to  both  Christian  and  Muslim  lands; 
these  are  the  traditions  and  heroes  of  the  Jews.  Poems 
describing  or  bearing  allusion  to  the  Creation  of  the  Uni- 
verse, the  Fall  of  Man,  and  the  Deluge,  are  as  common 
among^the  followers  of  the  Qur'an,  as  among  those  of  the  Gos- 
pel. The  virtue  and  loveliness  of  Joseph,  the  sweet  sing- 
ing of  David, 'and  the  glories  of  Solomon,  who  like  Nwshz'r- 
van,  the  Persian,  is  the  model  of  an  Eastern  sovereign, 
are  darling  themes  with  the  poets  of  Islam.  These  Prophets 
—  along  with  many  others  whose  histories  are  detailed  in 
the  Qur'an,  and  the  Prophet  Muhammed  himself  and  the 
most  distinguished  of  his  contemporaries  and  immediate 
successors,  especially  his  son-in-law  'Alz*  and  his  uncle 
Hemza ;  together  with  a  few,  a  very  few,  of  the  pre-Isla- 
mitic  champions  of  Arabia,  of  whom  Hatim  Ta'z  is  the 
most  frequently  mentioned  —  these  form  the  Semitic  contribu- 
tion to  what  may  be  called  the  dramatis  personce  of  Otto- 
man Poetry. 

In  the  Persians  we  have  already  seen  the  Aryan  contin- 
gent, in  which  also  appear  a  few  of  the  Grecian  philoso- 
phers, notably  Plato  and  Aristotle.  From  the  Sh'&h-Na.ma 
of  Firdevsz',  in  which  are  recounted  in  noble  strains  the  ad- 
ventures and  exploits  of  the  kings  and  heroes  of  four  mighty 
dynasties,  the  Pz'shdadz,  the  Keyanz,  the  Ashekanz  and  the 
Sasanz'  (or  the  Achaemenian,  the  Median,  the  Parthian, 
and  the  Sassanian)  have  subsequent  authors,  well  nigh  num- 


OTTOMAN   POEMS  7 

berless, —  Persian,  Turkish,  and  Indian, —  drawn  the  mate- 
rials for  many  beautiful  poems.  Often  are  sung  the  splendor 
and  subsequent  fall  of  Jemshzd ;  famed  are  the  glories  of 
Khusrev  Pervz'z  and  his  love  for  the  enchanting  ShzWn, 
whose  very  name  means  (<  sweet w  ;  but  of  all  the  kings  and 
heroes  whose  feats  Firdevsz  records  in  his  famous  epic, 
none  is  held  so  high,  none  has  furnished  the  subject  for  so 
many  romances,  as  the  king  and  hero,  the  conqueror  of 
the  world,  Iskender-i  R#rm,  Alexander  the  "Roman."  So 
enamored  are  the  Persians  of  Alexander  the  Great,  though 
he  conquered  their  country  and  overthrew  their  splendid 
Keyani  dynasty,  that  they  claim  him  as  a  member  of  their 
own  race,  declaring  him  to  be  the  offspring  of  a  Persian 
prince  and  a  Grecian,  or  rather  Roman,  princess.  So  much 
for  the  characters,  historical  or  legendary,  which  figure  in 
the  Poetry  of  the  Ottomans :  Semitic  and  Aryan  we  see 
them  to  be ;  of  Turanian  we  can  find  no  sign.  The  absence 
of  all  trace  of  Tatar  mythology  may  perhaps  be  thus  ac- 
counted for.  A  mere  tribe  of  rude  and  unlettered  nomads 
was  the  little  Turkish  clan  which,  in  the  thirteenth  century 
of  our  era,  flying  from  the  murderous  hordes  of  Jengz'z 
Khan,  left  their  home  in  the  meadows  of  the  lower  Oxus 
and  followed  Suleyman  Shah  into  Asia  Minor,  and  there 
under  'Osman,  grandson  of  that  Prince,  formed  the  nucleus 
of  that  mighty  Empire  which  still  holds  sway,  direct  or  in- 
direct, over  some  of  the  fairest  portions  of  the  three  con- 
tinents of  the  Old  World.  On  theii  arrival  in  Asia  Minor 
they  found  established  there  another  Turkish  race,  the 
Selj«qz,  whose  empire,  then  near  its  fall,  had  lasted  long 
enough  and  been  sufficiently  prosperous  to  extend  to  litera- 
ture that  encouragement  which  Muslim  states,  possessed  of 
the  necessary  stability  and  tranquillity  have  never  failed  to 
accord.  The  literary  education  of  these  Selj«qz's  had  been 
entirely  conducted  by  Persians,  and  judging  from  the  ex- 
treme scarcity  of  Turkish  works  written  by  Seljwqz  authors, 
it  would  seem  that,  like  the  Jagatay*  Turks,  who  in  after 
years  ruled  so  magnificently  at  Delhi,  they  adopted  in  their 
literature  not  only  the  tone  and  style,  but  even  the  very 

*  Chagata.y  is  the  true   Central  Asian  form    of   this  word ;   but  the 
Ottomans  write  and  pronounce  it 


8  INTRODUCTION 

language,  of  their  Irani  instructors.  Hardly  were  'Osman 
and  his  followers  settled  in  their  new  home  before  the 
Seljaqz  Empire  went  to  pieces.  Overthrown  by  fierce 
Mogul  conquerors,  strong  enough  to  destroy  but  too  weak 
to  restore,  the  Empire  split  up  into  a  number  of  provinces, 
each  under  a  Turkish  chieftain,  by  whose  name  the  prov- 
ince was  known  so  long  as  it  enjoyed  a  separate  existence. 
These  provinces  were  gradually  merged  in  the  growing 
empire  of  Orkhan  and  his  successors,  when  the  inhabitants 
—  Turks  themselves,  like  the  Ottomans  —  readily  amalga- 
mated with  the  latter,  so  that  by  far  the  greater  portion  of 
the  people  now  and  for  long  called  Ottoman  Turks  are  in 
reality  renovated  Seljwqzs. 

To  these  Seljaqzs  it  is  that  the  Ottomans  owe  their  liter- 
ary education:  this  fact  at  once  explains  the  extremely 
Persian  tone  that  runs  through  their  whole  literature ;  with- 
out any  records  of  their  own,  they  seem  to  have  lost  any 
lingering  recollection  of  the  traditions  of  their  ancestors 
when  brought  face  to  face  with  the  dazzling  genius  of 
Persia.  Still,  unlike  many  Turks  brought  under  the  Persian 
spell,  the  Ottomans  did  not  adopt  the  Irani  tongue  as  the 
language  of  their  court  and  literature ;  on  the  contrary,  they 
retained  as  such  their  native  Tatar  dialect,  but  embellished 
with  every  beauty  that  the  Persian  speech  could  lend. 

A  peculiarity  of  Persian  and  Ottoman  Poetry  is,  that  it 
almost  always  possesses,  beneath  its  literal  meaning,  a  subtle, 
esoteric,  spiritual  signification.  Many  poems,  of  which  the 
Afesnevi  of  Jelalu-'d-Dzn  and  the  D\iva.n  of  'Ashiq  Pasha 
are  examples,  are  confessedly  religious,  moral,  or  mystic 
works;  but  a  much  larger  number  are  allegorical.  To  this 
latter  class  belong  almost  all  the  long  romantic  mesnevis  of 
the  Persian  and  Ottoman  poets ;  in  the  stories  of  the  loves 
of  Leyk'  and  Mejnan,  Ywsuf  and  Zuleykhat,  Khusrev  and 
Shm'n,  Selaman  and  Ebsal,  and  a  hundred  of  like  kind, 
we  can  see  pictured,  if  we  look  beneath  the  surface,  the 
longing  of  the  soul  of  man  for  God,  or  the  yearning  of  the 
human  heart  after  heavenly  light  and  wisdom.  There  is 
not  a  character  introduced  into  those  romances  but  repre- 
sents some  passion,  not  an  incident  but  has  some  spiritual 
meaning.  In  the  history  of  Iskender,  or  Alexander,  we 


OTTOMAN  POEMS  9 

watch  the  noble  human  soul  in  its  struggles  against  the 
powers  of  this  world,  and,  when  aided  by  God  and  guided 
by  the  heavenly  wisdom  of  righteous  teachers,  its  ultimate 
victory  over  every  earthly  passion,  and  its  attainment  of 
that  point  of  divine  serenity  whence  it  can  look  calmly 
down  on  all  sublunary  things. 

Of  a  similar  character  are  the  odes  called  gazels;  these 
little  poems,  though  outwardly  mere  voluptuous  or  baccha- 
nalian songs,  are  in  reality  the  outpouring  of  hearts  over- 
whelmed, or  as  they  themselves  express  it,  drunken,  with 
their  love  of  God:  He  is  that  Fair  One  whom  they  so 
eagerly  entreat  to  come  to  them,  to  throw  off  the  veil  that 
conceals  His  perfect  beauty  from  the  sight  of  their  compre- 
hension. Every  word  in  these  effusions  has  its  spiritual  or 
mystic  signification,  well  known  to  the  initiated :  thus,  the 
mistress  is  God ;  the  lover,  man ;  the  tresses,  the  mystery 
of  the  Godhead,  or  Its  impenetrable  attributes  ;  the  waist, 
that  state  when  nought  remains  to  veil  the  lover  from  the 
Divine  glories ;  the  ruby  lip,  the  unheard  but  understood 
words  of  God ;  the  embrace,  the  discovery  of  the  mysteries 
of  the  Godhead  ;  absence  or  separation  is  the  non-recogni- 
tion of  the  Unity  of  God ;  union,  His  Unity,  or  the  seeing 
of  Him  face  to  face ;  ivine  means  the  Divine  love ;  the 
cup-bearer,  the  spiritual  instructor,  the  giver  of  the  goblet 
of  celestial  aspiration  and  love ;  the  libertine,  the  saint  who 
thinks  no  more  of  human  conventionalities;  the  tavern,  a 
place  where  one  mortifies  sensuality,  and  relinquishes  his 
(<  name  and  fame }) ;  the  zephyr,  the  breathing  of  the  spirit ; 
the  taper,  the  Divine  light  kindling  the  torch,  the  heart  of 
the  lover,  man.  And  so  on,  through  every  detail  is  the 
allegory  maintained. 

Such  is  the  true  and  original  purport  of  the  gazel,  and 
the  spirit  in  which  most  of  the  great  poets  of  Persia  and 
Turkey  intended  their  compositions  to  be  understood ;  but 
many  writers  (especially  in  Persia,  where  morals  are  lax) 
did  no  doubt  mean  literally  all  they  said.  Among  the 
Ottoman  gazel- writers  there  is  a  great  number  of  men  who 
cannot  be  regarded  either  as  mystics  or  voluptuaries.  All 
the  sultans,  princes,  and  vezzrs,  as  well  as  the  immense 
crowd  of  officials  of  all  ranks,  who  wrote  these  odes,  were 


io  INTRODUCTION 

men  who  had  not  the  leisure,  even  if  they  had  the  wish, 
to  be  mystic  devotees ;  neither  would  they  have  dared,  no 
matter  what  they  may  have  thought,  to  give  expression  in 
strict,  orthodox  Stamboul  to  such  sentiments  as  are  set  forth 
in  their  songs,  intending  them  to  be  literally  understood. 
Moreover,  we  know  from  history  that  many  of  the  royal 
poets  could  not  possibly  have  intended  a  literal  interpreta- 
tion of  their  verses ;  for  they  were  sincere  and  zealous 
Muslims,  and  visited  with  condign  punishment  the  use  of 
the  forbidden  wine.  How  then,  it  may  be  asked,  did  they 
write  these  poems,  if  they  meant  them  neither  literally  nor 
figuratively?  The  answer  seems  to  be  :  Fashion.  Looking 
over  the  works  of  their  Persian  models,  they  would  see 
that  the  great  majority  of  the  smaller  poems  (men  of  action 
would  rarely  have  time  to  write  long  mesnevis)  were  in 
this  strain,  that  the  ideas  and  expressions  were  pretty,  and 
so  they  would  copy  them  without  intending  their  words  to 
be  taken  either  in  a  literal  or  a  metaphorical  sense.  But 
while  this  may  be  the  case  with  regard  to  some  writers, 
there  are  very  many  Ottoman  poets,  the  earnestness  of 
whose  words  proclaims  the  intensity  and  depth  of  the  feel- 
ing that  gave  them  birth,  whose  verses  are  free  from  that 
almost  insensate  enthusiasm  which  stamps  too  many  gazels 
with  insincerity.  Some  of  these,  too,  held  high  offices  of 
state ;  such  was  'Izzet  Molla,  one  of  Sultan  Mahmwd  the 
Second's  vice-chancellors,  in  many  of  whose  gazels  are 
traces  of  a  profound  philosophy.  Every  page  also  of  the 
poet  Lami'e  bears  witness  that  he  at  least  possessed  an 
ardent  and  sincere  love  of  nature. 

A  few  words  regarding  the  doctrine  of  the  Sufis  or 
Mystics,  which  is  the  creed  of  most  of  the  Dervish  Orders, 
and  to  which  the  gazels,  when  written  in  the  proper  spirit, 
mesnevis  too,  give  expression,  will  not  here  be  out  of  place. 
As  no  one  has  described  this  religion  of  Mysticism  more 
accurately  than  Sir  William  Jones,  I  cannot  do  better  than 
reproduce  the  following  passage,  from  his  <(  Essay  on  the 
Philosophy  of  the  Asiatics  w  :  — 

<(The  Sufis  concur  in  believing  that  the  souls  of  men 
differ  infinitely  in  degree,  but  not  at  all  in  kind,  from  the 
Divine  Spirit,  of  which  they  are  particles,  and  in  which 


OTTOMAN   POEMS  n 

they  will  ultimately  be  re-absorbed ;  that  the  spirit  of  God 
pervades  the  universe,  always  immediately  present  to  His 
work,  and,  consequently,  always  in  substance ;  that  He 
alone  is  perfect  benevolence,  perfect  truth,  perfect  beauty; 
that  the  love  of  Him  alone  is  real  and  genuine  love,  while 
that  of  all  other  objects  is  absurd  and  illusory ;  that  the 
beauties  of  nature  are  faint  resemblances,  like  images  in  a 
mirror,  of  the  Divine  charms ;  that,  from  eternity  without 
beginning  to  eternity  without  end,  the  Supreme  Benevolence 
is  occupied  in  bestowing  happiness,  or  the  means  of  attain- 
ing it ;  that  men  can  only  attain  it  by  performing  their 
part  of  the  primal  covenant  between  them  and  the  Creator ; 
that  nothing  has  a  pure,  absolute  existence  but  mind  or 
spirit;  that  material  substances,  as  the  ignorant  call  them, 
are  no  more  than  gay  pictures,  presented  continually  to  our 
minds  by  the  spiritual  artist ;  that  we  must  be  aware  of 
attachment  to  such  phantoms,  and  attach  ourselves,  exclu- 
sively, to  God,  who  truly  exists  in  us,  as  we  exist  solely  in 
Him ;  that  we  retain,  even  in  this  forlorn  state  of  separa- 
tion from  our  beloved,  the  idea  of  heavenly  beauty  and  the 
remembrance  of  our  primeval  vows;  that  sweet  music, 
gentle  breezes,  fragrant  flowers  perpetually  renew  the  pri- 
mary idea,  refresh  our  fading  memory,  and  melt  us  with 
tender  affections  ;  that  we  must  cherish  these  affections,  and, 
by  abstracting  our  souls  from  vanity,  that  is,  from  all  but 
God,  approximate  to  His  essence,  in  our  final  union  with 
which  will  consist  our  supreme  beatitude.  *  To  what 
extent  the  spirit  of  this  philosophy  pervades  the  Poetry  of 
the  Ottomans,  the  following  pages  will  amply  show. 

But  there  is  much  Ottoman  Poetry,  altogether  unaffected 
by  the  Aryan  Mysticism  of  Persia,  tinged  with  a  stately 
melancholy  and  breathing  a  sincere  and  simple  religion 
which  no  one  can  possibly  misunderstand.  That  is  the  spirit 
of  Semitic  Islam,  a  spirit  sad  and  grave,  but  full  of  divine 
calm  and  inward  joy  and  ineffable  hope,  a  spirit  that  can 
incite  those  in  whom  it  dwells  to  deeds  of  the  highest  dar- 
ing, and  sustain  them  unshaken  in  the  bitterest  anguish. 
Here,  then,  we  see  the  influences  of  the  genius  of  the 
two  great  races,  Semitic  and  Aryan,  uniting  to  form  the 
soul  of  Ottoman  Poetry ;  and  here  again  we  fail  to  discern 


iz  INTRODUCTION 

any  trace  of  a  third  and  Turanian  element.  M.  Servan  de 
Sugny  says,  indeed,  in  his  work  called  La  Muse  Otto- 
mane  :  (<  The  Turks  have  something  distinct  from  the 
other  two  nations  (Arabs  and  Persians)  ;  contemplative  by 
nature,  they  love  to  fathom  the  mysteries  of  existence,  to 
plunge  in  thought  into  the  darkness  of  the  other  world,  to 
ask  the  purpose  and  the  end  of  all  things  here.  Thus  they 
are  moralists  par  excellence;  they  have  ever  present  in  their 
mind  the  hour  of  death  and  the  eternal  destiny  which 
awaits  each  man  beyond  the  tomb.  In  even  the  most  trivial 
works  of  their  writers,  there  is  almost  always  some  religious 
or  philosophic  thought  attached  to  the  principal  subject,  to 
form  its  crown,  or,  if  need  be,  its  corrective.  In  a  word, 
the  Turks  regard  themselves  as  only  camped  in  life,  just  as 
it  has  been  said  that  their  nation  is  only  camped  in  Europe. 
One  can  imagine  with  what  a  solemnity  such  a  manner  of 
viewing  things  must  impress  their  customs,  and,  in  conse- 
quence, the  creations  of  their  genius.  *  All  that  the  French 
writer  says  here  about  the  Ottomans  and  their  mode  of 
thought  is  absolutely  true ;  but  the  spirit  which  brought 
about  that  mode  of  thought  is  that  of  Islam,  working  on 
the  Turkish  mind,  no  doubt,  but  still  in  itself  Qur'anic, 
and  therefore  Semitic — not  Turkish  and  Turanian.  The 
proof  of  this  is,  that  the  same  spirit  can  be  seen  in  thou- 
sands of  Arabic  poems  written  after  the  mission  of  Muham- 
med  and  before  the  rise  of  Turkish  literature. 

Thus,  as  we  have  several  times  seen,  one  of  the  most  notice- 
able characteristics  of  Ottoman  Poetry  is  its  lack  of  origin- 
ality ;  saving  that  it  differs  in  what  may  be  called  its  local 
coloring,  for  it  is  the  growth  of  another  clime  :  it  reflects 
as  in  a  mirror  every  trait  and  feature  of  the  poetic  art  of 
Persia.  Persian  it  is  in  form,  Persian  in  tone,  and,  gener- 
ally, Persian  in  subject  ;  even  the  Arabian  ray,  which  we 
have  noticed,  comes  to  it  through  a  Persian  medium.  The 
cause  of  this  we  have  attempted  to  trace  in  the  early  history 
of  the  Empire  of  the  Ottomans,  and  in  the  circumstances 
of  their  literary  education. 

While  such  is  indeed  the  case  with  regard  to  the  classic 
poetry  of  the  Ottomans  (which  alone  we  are  considering 
here),  it  is  more  than  probable  that  in  the  popular  songs 


OTTOMAN   POEMS  13 

Shargis,  or  ballads,  and  such  like,  a  distinct  and  national 
spirit  will  be  found.  In  his  (<  Popular  Poetry  of  Persia, M 
M.  Chodzko  gives  translations  of  some  songs  of  the  Persian 
Turks,  made  from  the  Azerbay']ani  patois,  which  forms  the 
connecting  link  between  the  Eastern  and  Western  —  Jagatay 
and  Ottoman  —  dialects  of  the  great  Turkish  language, 
which  extends,  like  an  immense  unbroken  chain,  from  the 
Wall  of  China  to  the  shores  of  the  Adriatic ;  but  these  can 
hardly  be  expected  to  bear  much  resemblance  to  the  every-day 
songs  of  Br«sa  and  Stamboul.  So  far  as  I  know,  no  col- 
lection of  Ottoman  popular  songs  has  been  published  in 
Europe,  either  in  original  or  translation. 

Although  the  want  of  originality  undoubtedly  renders 
Ottoman  Poetry  less  interesting  than  it  would  be  were  the 
case  otherwise,  that  cannot  be  considered  a  sufficient  reason 
for  its  neglect ;  if  the  poetry  of  Persia  is  beautiful  and  de- 
serving of  careful  study  (and  few  who  are  acquainted  with 
it  will  deny  that  it  is  both),  that  of  Turkey  must  be  the 
same,  seeing  how  close  is  the  relationship  between  them. 
Roman  science  and  literature  stand  in  very  much  the  same 
relation  to  Grecian  as  Ottoman  do  to  Persian.  Professor 
Max  Mtlller  even  says,  in  his  (<  Science  of  Language,** 
"  the  Romans,  in  all  scientific  matters,  were  merely  the  par- 
rots of  the  Greeks  * ;  yet  no  one  is  deterred  on  that  account 
from  the  study  of  the  Latin  poets,  and  why  should  a  sim- 
ilar circumstance  interfere  with  that  of  the  Ottoman? 

But  it  must  not  be  thought  that,  because  the  Turkish 
race  has  shown  a  singular  backwardness  in  the  invention  of 
poetic  fancies  and  forms,  it  in  any  way  lacks  those  qualities 
of  character  and  individuality  whereby  nations  raise  them- 
selves from  obscurity  to  fame.  Were  it  not  a  race  endowed 
with  great  and  special  gifts,  so  many  of  its  families  would 
never  have  distinguished  themselves  in  the  world's  history. 
The  kingdoms  of  the  Selj&qz  Turks  were  once  the  most 
powerful  in  Western  Asia ;  for  two  centuries  the  Qaramanz 
Turks  were  the  most  formidable  rivals  of  the  '  Osmanh's ; 
and  those  splendid  Emperors  known  as  the  <(  Great  Moguls," 
who,  down  to  the  middle  of  the  present  century,  ruled  in 
India,  were  in  reality  Jagatays —  Turks,  pure  as  the  Otto- 

*  Ed.  1873,  Vol.  I.,  p.  139. 


14  INTRODUCTION 

mans  themselves.  Of  these  latter  it  is  needless  to  speak; 
they  were  once  the  mightiest  people  on  the  earth;  and, 
even  now,  after  centuries  of  decline,  it  has  taxed  to  its  ut- 
termost the  whole  military  force  of  the  greatest  empire  in 
Europe,  backed  up  by  rebel  hordes  from  every  province 
between  the  Euxine  and  the  Adriatic,  to  worst  their  armies 
in  the  field. 


II.— OTTOMAN  VERSE-FORMS  AND  METRES 

WE  SHALL  now  proceed  to  take  a  brief  survey  of  the  con- 
struction of  Ottoman  Poetry  —  of  the  various  verse- 
forms  and  metres  in  which  it  is  composed. 

For  their  rhyming  system,  as  for  all  else  pertaining  to 
the  construction  of  their  poetry,  the  Ottomans  are  indebted 
to  the  Persians,  who  are  themselves  beholden  for  the  ele- 
ments of  their  poetic  art  to  the  Arabs,  to  whose  primitive 
system,  however,  they  have  added  many  new  features  of 
their  own  invention.  Some,  at  least,  of  these  features  are, 
it  is  true,  to  be  found  in  several  later  Arabic  poetical 
works,  but  these  must  be  regarded  as  copied  from 
Persian  or  Turkish  models.  The  rhyming  system  of  the 
Ottomans  (and  Persians)  divides  itself  naturally  into  two 
great  branches:  one,  the  primitive  Arabian  form;  the  other, 
an  invention  of  the  Persians. 

The  root  of  the  first  of  these  is  the  qasida,  the  form  in 
which  the  famous  Afulallaqa.t  and  other  old  Arabic  poems 
are  written.  It  were  well  to  state  here  that  the  invariable 
base,  upon  which  Musulman  poetry  is  built,  is  the  Beyt, 
usually  translated  (< distich*  or  <( couplet, w  which  consists  of 
two  hemistichs  (misra.')  of  equal  length.  The  feature  of 
the  first,  or  Arabian,  branch  is,  that  throughout  the  entire 
poem,  no  matter  how  long  it  be  —  i.  e.,  of  how  many  beyts 
it  consist  —  the  second  hemistichs  of  all  \hebeyts  must  rhyme 
together,  thus  carrying  one  and  the  same  rhyme  through 
the  whole  poem,  while  the  first  hemistichs  do  not  rhyme  at 
all.  Usually,  though  not  always,  the  first  hemistich  of  the 
first  beyt  —  /.  e. ,  the  first  line  of  the  poem  —  rhymes  with  its 


OTTOMAN   POEMS  15 

own  second  hemistich,  and,  consequently,  with  that  of  every 
succeeding  beyt.  Examples  of  this  will  be  seen  in  every 
gazel  in  this  collection 

In  the  second,  or  Persian,  branch,  the  two  hemistichs  of 
each  beyt  rhyme  with  one  another,  altogether  independently  of 
the  rhymes  of  other  beyts,  whether  preceding  or  follow- 
ing ;  this  is  called  mesnem  rhyme.  It  is  to  be  found  in  a 
vast  number  of  English  poems  —  those  of  Dryden  and  Sir 
Walter  Scott,  for  example.  This  Persian  style  is  chiefly 
used  for  very  long  poems,  each  of  which  is  a  complete  book 
in  itself  ;  while  the  Arabian  system  is  principally  employed 
in  shorter  productions. 

The  two  great  branches  of  the  rhyming  system  having 
been  explained,  the  principal  verse-forms  require  to  be  no- 
ticed. The  Qasida,  Gazel,  and  j^z'/'a  are  the  most  important 
of  these  in  the  Arabian  style. 

The  Qasida  :  This  is  the  old  Arab  form.  The  two  hem- 
istichs of  the  opening  beyt  rhyme  with  one  another.  The 
subject  of  poems  written  in  this  form  is  generally  the  praise 
of  great  personages,  either  living  or  deceased;  occasional 
satire,  and  sometimes  moral  or  religious  reflections.  As  a 
rule,  toward  the  end  of  the  poem  the  name  of  the  person 
praised  is  introduced.  The  Qasida  is  usually  a  poem  of 
considerable  length,  and  ought  to  be  finished  and  elegant 
in  point  of  style.  An  example  of  this  form  will  be  found 
among  the  selections  from  Baqz's  poems. 

The  Gazel  is  in  form  precisely  the  same  as  the  qasida, 
but  much  shorter,  consisting  of  not  less  than  five  and  not 
more  than  eighteen  beyts,  in  the  last,  or  second  last,  of  which 
the  poet  almost  always  introduces  his  own  takhallus,  or  po- 
etic nom  de  -plume.  The  matters  of  which  it  usually  treats 
are  the  beauty  of  a  mistress,  and  the  woes  of  her  absent, 
and  generally  despairing,  lover ;  or  the  delights  of  wine ;  or 
the  charms  of  spring  and  flowers,  and  the  sweet  notes  of 
the  nightingale  ;  or  it  may  be  that  a  single  gazel  will  touch 
on  each  and  all  of  these  varied  subjects,  devoting  a  beyt  or 
two  to  each.  Often,  too,  in  the  course  of  the  poem,  one 
comes  across  an  allusion  to  the  brevity  of  human  life  and 
the  vanity  of  the  things  of  earth ;  concerning  the  true  mean- 
ing of  these  seemingly  bacchanalian  songs  we  have  already 


16  INTRODUCTION 

spoken.  A  few  gazels  treat  consecutively  throughout  of 
a  given  subject,  as,  for  example,  that  of  Baqi  on  Autumn, 
and  that  of  Beh'g  on  a  Dancing-Girl ;  but  these  are  rare 
exceptions.  In  regard  to  style,  the  gazel  must  be  highly  fin- 
ished; all  imperfect  rhymes,  obsolete  words,  and  vulgar  ex- 
pressions ought  to  be  avoided.  Each  beyt  must  in  itself  con- 
tain a  complete  thought.  There  need  be,  and  there  usually 
is,  no  connection  between  the  various  beyts,  which  have  been 
well  compared  to  pearls  upon  a  thread.  (<The  thread  will 
make  them  one  necklace ;  but  the  value  of  the  necklace  lies 
in  each  pearl,  not  in  the  thread.*  The  gazel  is  by  far  the 
favorite  verse-form  of  the  Ottoman  and  Persian  poets.  A 
point  which  calls  for  remark  here  is  that  some  Ottoman 
gazels  are  addressed  to  boys,  not  to  girls,  the  explanation  of 
which  is  this  :  the  old  Arabian  poets  speak  of  women,  fre- 
quently imaginary ;  but  the  Persians,  considering  this  very 
immodest,  usually  assume  a  boy,  also  imaginary,  to  be  the 
beloved  object  in  their  poems  ;  and  the  Ottomans,  according 
to  their  invariable  custom,  have  simply  copied  the  Irani?,. 
This  practice  holds,  too,  in  modern  Arabic  poetry. 

The  Qtt'a  differs  in  form  from  the  qasida  and  gazel 
only  in  that  the  first  hemistich  of  the  first  beyt  does  not 
rhyme  with  the  second  of  the  same  and  succeeding  couplets. 
A  Qif-a  may  contain  as  few  as  two  beyts.  If  the  first  beyt 
of  a  qasida  or  gazel  be  taken  away,  the  remainder  is  a 
Qit'a;  or  if  a  poet  compose  a  qasida  or  gazel  without 
rhyming  the  first  line,  the  result  is  a  Qi^a.  The  word 
QiPa  means  <(  fragment.* 

As  already  mentioned,  the  Qasida,  Gazel,  and  Qitla  are 
the  principal  verse-forms  in  which  the  Arabian  system  of 
rhyme  prevails;  the  Persian  style  holds  in  one  only,  which 
now  remains  to  be  noticed. 

The  Mesnevi:  In  the  Persian  rhyme- system,  as  has  been 
said,  each  hemistich  rhymes  with  its  fellow;  but  the  same 
rhyme  is  not  carried  throughout  the  entire  poem,  as  in 
qasidas,  gazels,  and  qif-as.  The  name  mesnevi  is  given 
alike  to  this  style  of  rhyme  and  to  a  poem  composed  in  it. 
The  subject  of  a  mesnevi  is  usually  a  romance  or  an  epic. 
The  stories  of  the  loves  of  Leyl*  and  Mejnwn,  Wamiq  and 
'Azra,  Khusrev  and  Sturm,  and  Yasuf  and  Zuleykha,  and 


OTTOMAN  POEMS  17 

the  adventures  of  Iskender  (Alexander  the  Great),  and  of 
the  ancient  princes  of  the  East,  are  favorite  themes  with  the 
writers  of  these  poems.  They  not  un frequently  treat  of 
mystic  or  religious  subjects;  and  the  most  famous  work  of 
this  kind  in  any  Muslim  language  is  the  great  Persian 
mystic  poem  of  Mevlana  Jehzlu-'d-Dzn  er-R&nu,  which  is 
styled  simply  the  Mesnem,  being  the  mesnem  of  all  mes- 
nevis.  The  first  Book  of  this  master-work  of  Persian  poetry 
—  this  text-book  of  the  mystics  of  the  East  —  has  been  re- 
cently translated  into  English  verse  by  Mr.  Redhouse. 
Historical  poems  are  usually  written  in  this  form;  they  bear 
most  frequently  the  name,  JVama,  i.e.,  ^Book,*  as  the 
Sha.h-JVa.ma,  Iskender-Na,ma,  T\m\\r-Na,ma,  <(  The  Book  of 
Kings, J>  of  <(  Alexander, w  of  "Tz'mwr.*  Little  descriptive 
poems  included  in  D'vwa.ns  (though  not  always  in  mesnevi 
rhyme)  also  often  bear  this  name;  such  are  the  Sa.q\-No.ma 
Fira.q-Na.ma,  Pend-Na.ma,  (<The  Book  of  the  Cup-bearer,* 
of  <(  Separation, w  of  <(  Counsel. >J  Finally,  to  this  form  be- 
longs that  peculiar  class  of  descriptive  poems  which  bears 
the  special  title  Shehr-eng'\z ,  (<  City-disturbing. w  These  are 
descriptions  either  of  places  or  of  people  ;  they  detail  the 
beauties  of  the  site  and  buildings  of  a  city,  or  the  charms 
of  the  youths  and  maidens  who  dwell  there,  and  whose 
loveliness  sets  the  whole  town  in  an  uproar.  It  will  thus 
be  seen  that  the  Persian,  or  mesnevi,  rhyme  is  chiefly  used 
in  descriptive  poetry. 

These  are  the  most  important  verse-forms  to  be  found  in 
the  works  of  Ottoman  poets ;  but  there  are  many  minor 
varieties,  some  of  which,  as  they  frequently  occur,  require  to 
be  mentioned  here.  Amongst  the  most  common  of  these  is 
the  class  called  Musemmat,  which  comprises  poems  consist- 
ing of  a  succession  of  four,  five,  or  six-line  strophes,  and 
named  accordingly,  Murebba' ,  Mukhammess,  and  Mueddes, 
or  <(  tetrastich, M  «  pentastich,"  and  "hexastich." 

Each  of  the  strophes  has  a  different  rhyme,  and  the  lines 
in  each  rhyme  together.  Often,  however,  the  last  line  (some- 
times the  last  two  lines)  of  each  strophe  is  the  same 
throughout,  thus  forming  a  sort  of  refrain.  Frequently  again 
the  last  lines  are  different,  but  rhyme  with  each  other  and 
the  first  strophe.  Several  examples  of  these  forms,  which 


18  INTRODUCTION 

are  really  only  varieties  of  the  Terj^-Bend  (which  will  be 
described  further  on),  are  included  in  the  present  collection. 
The  subjects  of  the  musemmats  are  usually  the  same  as  those 
of  gazels. 

Another  very  important  form  is  the  Rub&c\^  or  <(  quatrain.* 
This,  as  its  name  shows,  is  a  short  composition  of  four  lines. 
The  first,  second,  and  fourth  lines  must  rhyme  with  one 
another,  the  third  may  or  may  not,  at  the  option  of  the 
poet.  This  form,  which  is  in  high  favor  with  Oriental 
poets,  may  treat  of  any  subject.  The  last  line,  or  sometimes 
the  last  two  lines,  of  a  good  Rub&c\  must  be  either  witty  or 
epigrammatical,  the  preceding  lines  serve  merely  to  intro- 
duce the  bon  mot  of  the  last.  Here  is  a  celebrated  Ruba.l\, 
by  the  Ottoman  poet  'Izarz  :  * 

Struggling  here  fiercely  my  love  for  the  fair; 
There,  the  flame,  dread  of  rivals,  cruel  glare; 
Which  to  combat,  in  which  I  must  burn,  know  not  I : 
Tender  torment  of  fire,  O  Lord,  us  spare! 

The  last  line  here  is  a  citation  from  the  Qur'an,  ch.  ii.,  v. 
197,  which  'Igarz  quotes  in  the  original  Arabic. 

Another  great  favorite  with  Ottoman  writers  is  the  TariM, 
or  w  Chronogram >J ;  that  is,  a  piece  of  v^erse  which  expresses 
at  once  an  occurrence  and  the  date  of  the  same.  All  the 
letters  of  the  Turkish  alphabet  have  a  numerical  value,  just 
as  with  us  C  represents  too,  V,  5,  and  so  on.  If  the  nu- 
merical values  of  the  letters  occurring  in  a  verse,  a  sentence, 
or  even  a  word,  on  being  added  together,  give  the  date  of 
the  event  to  which  the  words  allude,  that  verse,  sentence, 
or  word  is  called  a  Ta.r\kh.  In  poetical  7\r\khs  it  is 
usually  only  the  last  line  that  contains  the  date,  sometimes 
only  certain  of  the  letters  in  that  line.  The  translation  of 
a  7ari£A  on  the  death  of  a  princess  will  be  found  among 
the  selections  from  Leyla  Khanim's  Z>iwa«. 

A  Naz\ra  is  a  poem  written  in  imitation  of,  or  in  answer 
to,  one  writer  by  another.  (See  Note  54.) 

A  Mustez&d  is  a  gazel  with  an  addition  of  some  words 
to  each  line.  This  addition  must  have  the  same  rhyme  and 
the  same  metre  as  the  last  half  of  the  line  to  which  it  is 

*  Quoted  by  Qinali-Zada  and  Mr.  Redhouse. 


19 

attached.  These  short  lines,  or  additions,  may  be  either  read 
or  omitted  without  spoiling  the  sense  of  the  poem  ;  indeed 
there  are  compositions  which  occur  in  some  MSS.  as  simple 
gazels  that  in  others  appear  as  Mustez&ds. 

The  Terk\b-Bend  is  a  poem  consisting  of  a  series  of 
strophes  in  the  form,  of  gazels,  each  of  the  same  metre,  but 
with  different  rhymes,  and  connected  with  one  another  by 
beyts  of  the  same  metre  as  themselves,  but  differing  from 
them  in  rhyme.  Sometimes  the  bend,  that  is  the  "bond," 
the  connecting  beyt,  is  the  same  throughout ;  sometimes  it 
varies  between  each  strophe.  The  poet  does  not  introduce 
his  takhallus  into  each  of  the  gazel-Vtiae,  strophes,  but  only 
once  toward  the  end  of  the  poem.  Baqz's  Elegy  on  Sultan 
Suleyman  affords  an  example  of  the  Terkib-Bend. 

The  Terfi-Bend  consists  likewise  of  several  strophes,  all 
the  hemistichs  of  each  of  which,  however,  rhyme  together, 
thus  differing  from  the  strophes  of  the  Terkib-Bend,  which 
rhyme  in  the  gazel  style ;  but  like  those  of  the  Terkib,  each 
strophe  of  the  Terji1  takes  a  new  rhyme.  As  in  the  Terkib, 
again  the  strophes  here  are  connected  by  a  beyt  (the  Bend), 
which  may  or  may  not  be  variable,  and  which  may  or  may 
not  rhyme  with  the  first  stanza.  An  example  of  the  Terji1- 
Bend  will  be  found  in  Wasif's  Eulogy  on  Huseyn  Pasha. 

The  Takhmis  is  often  met  with  in  the  later  writers. 
Here  the  poet  takes  a  gazel  of  another  author,  and  pro- 
ceeds to  build  a  mukhammes  upon  it  in  the  following  man- 
ner. He  takes  the  first,  or  non-rhyming,  lines  of  the 
couplets  which  make  up  the  gazel,  and  prefixes  to  each  of 
them  three  lines  of  his  own  composition  having  the  same 
metre  and  rhyme  as  those  to  which  they  are  joined.  The 
second,  or  rhyming,  lines  of  the  gazel  are  then  added  in 
regular  order  to  these  four-line  strophes,  and  thus  form  the 
fifth,  or  odd,  lines  of  the  mukhammes.  An  example  which 
will  make  this  clear  will  be  found  in  this  volume  among 
the  specimens  of  Leyla  Khanim's  poetry,  where  that  lady 
has  made  a  Takhmis  upon  one  of  Baqz's  gazels:  to  render 
the  process  quite  distinct  I  have  printed  Baqz's  lines  in 
italics.  The  word  Takhmis  means  <(  the  making  (of  any- 
thing) fivew  ;  here,  it  is  the  building  of  a  "cinquain0  upon 
a  couplet.  A  mukhammes  may  also  be  built  upon  a  single 


20  INTRODUCTION 

line,  and  a  museddes  upon  a  single  couplet  by  the  poet 
composing  all  the  four  lines  of  the  prefixed  strophes.  Of 
course,  in  this  case,  the  poem  may  be  of  any  length; 
whereas,  in  the  former,  the  number  of  its  strophes  is  neces- 
sarily that  of  the  couplets  of  the  gazel.  A  museddes  built 
upon  a  couplet  of  Mahmwd  Ned/m  Pasha  is  given  among 
Ziya  Beg's  poems.  In  the  case  of  a  museddes,  the  poem 
and  process  are  called  Tesdis,  <(a  making  six." 

The  Takhallus  is  the  literary  nom  de  plume  given  to,  or 
assumed  by,  persons  on  becoming  writers,  and  by  which, 
except  in  the  cases  of  the  Sultan,  his  sons,  and  certain  of 
his  ministers,  they  are  ever  afterward  commonly  known. 
A  variety  of  circumstances  may  affect  an  author  in  the 
choice  of  his  Takhallus;  sometimes  he  forms  it  from  his 
own  name ;  thus,  the  name  of  Baqz,  the  greatest  of  the  Ot- 
toman lyric  poets,  was  Mahmwd  'Abdu-'l-Baqz/  sometimes 
from  his  birthplace,  from  his  own  or  his  father's  occupa- 
tion, or  from  some  incident  in  his  life.  In  the  Tezkeras, 
as  the  Biographies  of  the  Poets  are  called,  the  authors  are 
arranged  under  their  Takhalluses  in  alphabetical  order. 

A  book  in  which  are  collected  the  various  works  of  a 
poet  (except  Mesnems,  which,  from  their  great  length,  usu- 
ally form  books  of  themselves)  is  named  a  Dvw&n.  The 
order  in  which  the  various  forms  of  poetry  are  arranged  in 
these  collections  is  generally  as  follows  :  Qasidas,  T&rikhs, 
Gazels,  Terj'^-  and  Terk\b-Bends  and  Musemmats;  Ru- 
ia'ij,  J3>zV'a.y,  and,  finally,  a  chapter  of  Logogriphs  and 
Enigmas,  named  respectively,  Mu'ammz.  and  Lugaz.  The 
difference  between  these  is,  that  in  the  Mu'-ammz.  the  letters 
of  a  word  form  the  subject  of  the  riddle,  while  in  the  Lugaz 
it  is  the  meaning  of  the  word  —  the  thing  itself  —  that  forms 
the  puzzle  :  a  specimen  of  the  latter,  by  Sultan  Murad  IV. , 
will  be  found  among  the  translations ;  the  former  are  un- 
translatable. Before  the  section  of  Qasidas,  a  Ditvan  al- 
ways contains  some  religious  poems;  first,  the  Hamd,  or 
*  Praise  of  God»;  then  the  Na't,  or  «  Praise  of  the  Prophet"  ; 
and,  thirdly,  the  Munoj&t,  or  the  poet's  prayer  for  himself. 

A  remarkable  feature  in  Ottoman  Poetry  is  the  Red\f; 
that  is,  one  or  more  words,  always  the  same,  added  to  the 
end  of  every  rhyming  line  in  a  poem,  which  word  or  words, 


OTTOMAN   POEMS  21 

though  counting  in  the  scansion,  are  not  regarded  as  the 
rhyme ;  the  true  rhyme  must  in  every  case  be  looked  for 
immediately  before  them.  The  lines, — 

« There   shone    such  a  truth  about   thee, 
I   did   not  dare  to   doubt  thee,* 

afford  an  English  example  of  this ;  here  the  word  (<  thee w 
is  a  Red\f,  (<  about  *  and  (<  doubt }>  forming  the  true  rhyme. 
In  translating,  I  have  generally,  but  not  invariably,  pre- 
served the  Red\f,  It  chiefly  occurs  in  gazels. 

The  Gazel,  the  7?#£a'i,  the  Takhallus,  and  the  Red\f 
are,  like  the  Afesnevi,  inventions  of  the  Persians. 

It  may  here  be  stated  that  in  Musulman  poetry  there  is 
no  such  thing  as  blank  verse.  In  books  written  in  mingled 
prose  and  verse,  a  style  in  which  Orientals  greatly  delight, 
and  of  which  the  Gulistan  of  the  Persian  Sa'dz  and  the 
w  Thousand  and  One  Nights B  form  beautiful  and  well- 
known  examples,  one  frequently  comes  across  beyts,  the  two 
hemistichs  of  which  do  not  rhyme  together.  These  are 
usually  either  the  opening  distich  of  some  qif-a,  or  quota- 
tions from  the  middle  of  a  gazel  or  qas'\da;  writers  of  such 
works,  however,  not  unfrequently  compose  beyts  of  this 
sort  in  one  of  the  metres,  to  express  in  elegant  and  forci- 
ble language  some  sentiment  they  wish  to  convey;  but 
compositions  of  this  nature  never  exceed  a  single  beyt;  four 
lines  of  poetry  containing  no  rhyme  is  a  thing  unknown. 

The  Prosody  of  the  Ottomans  is,  needless  to  say,  identical 
with  that  of  the  Persians,  which  is  founded  upon  the  Ara- 
bian system.  There  is  a  considerable  number  of  metres, 
each  of  which  has  many  variations ;  some,  of  course,  are 
much  more  frequently  employed  than  others.  The  follow- 
ing are  very  much  used  for  gazels  and  musemmats: — 

Hezej-i  JMusemmen-i  S&lim 

^_ _  i  ^  _  i  _          n  ^          _  i  ^          — i^. 

\  •*-  |  •**  H  ^-  i  -^  |  *~> 

Remel-i  Musemmen-i  Maqsur 

_^ |__. |_^_j_. |____|_^_ 

Afuza.rtl-t  Musemmen-i  Akhreb-i  Mekf^f-i  Maqsur 


22  INTRODUCTION 

A  great    number    of    others    are    constantly  used,  but  these 
three  are  the  commonest. 

For  mesnevis  the  following  three  are  favorites:  — 

Hezej-i  Museddes-i  Maqs\\r 

_    |  _     I      s_x    —        —    II    ^  _     I     _    _  _     I        >^    _ 

I  ^^  ~  i  ii  i  i 

Remel-i  Museddes-i  ~M.agsur 

Mutaq&rib-i  Musemmen-i  M.agsur 


All  the  metres  detailed  here  show  the  scansion  of  a  beyt, 
the  double  line  indicating  the  division  between  the  two 
hemistichs.  The  great  majority  of  the  poems  translated  in 
this  work  are  written  in  one  or  other  of  these  six  metres. 
The  reader  will  observe  the  great  excess  of  long  over 
short  syllables  in  these  measures,  a  feature  which  gives  to 
Eastern  poetry  a  peculiarly  grave  and  stately  dignity;  but 
at  the  same  time  renders  the  reproduction  into  English  of 
the  rhythm,  syllable  for  syllable,  a  matter  of  impossibility. 
The  number  of  little  words,  such  as  articles,  prepositions, 
etc.,  which  are  usually  required  in  English  to  make  up 
even  a  short  sentence,  as  well  as  the  unaccented  syllables 
in  words  of  more  than  monosyllabic  length,  none  of  which 
can  become,  as  they  all  can  in  Turkish  (<  long  by  position," 
form,  I  think,  an  insurmountable  barrier  to  the  exact  and 
absolute  reproduction  of  the  Oriental  metres  ;  especially 
when,  as  must  always  be  the  case  in  translating,  one  is 
fettered  with  the  necessity  of  having  to  say  a  certain  thing, 
and  nothing  else.  And  so,  in  translating  the  following 
poems,  although  I  have  almost  invariably  preserved  the 
number  of  syllables  of  the  originals,  I  have  been  unable 
always  to  reproduce  long  syllable  for  long,  and  short  for 
short;  but  in  every  case  I  have  done  my  best  to  give  a 
fair  idea  of  the  rhythm-movement  of  the  Turkish  verse. 
In  the  reproduction  of  the  rhyme  I  have,  I  venture  to 
think,  been  more  successful  ;  I  have  here  in  every  instance 
followed  the  original  absolutely;  always  making  a  rhyme  in 


OTTOMAN   POEMS  23 

the  translation  where  the  Turkish  showed  one,  never  where 
it  did  not.  The  Orientals,  as  has  been  already  remarked, 
do  not  <(  measure*  lines,  neither  do  they  speak  of  "long* 
and  (<  short*  syllables;  but  they  (<  weigh  *  them,  and  their 
syllables  are  "heavy*  and  «  light.* 

It  may  be  interesting  here  to  notice  a  few  of  the  curious 
technical  words  used  by  the  Muslims  in  connection  with 
their  prosody,  as  they  clearly  show  the  desert  origin  of  that 
art,  which,  as  we  have  seen,  had  its  rise  among  the  Arabs. 
The  terms  are  all  Arabic;  but  they  are  used  by  every  Mus- 
ulman  people.  The  word  beyt  means  "a  house,*  or,  as 
here,(<a  tent*;  the  feet  of  the  metres  are  called  erk&n,  or 
<( supports*;  these  are  made  up  of  the  sebeb,  "the  rope,* 
the  veted,  "the  tent-peg, w  and  the  f&sila,  <(the  tent-pole.* 
The  two  hemistichs  are  known  as  the  "folds,*  or  "leaves,* 
of  the  double  door  of  the  tent.  A  metre  they  name  bahr, 
which  means  "an  ocean,*  but  by  analogy,  "the  space  inside 
a  tent.*  Some,  however,  say  that  it  is  called  "an  ocean,* 
because,  as  an  ocean  contains  a  vast  variety  of  pearls,  corals, 
etc.,  so  does  a  metre  comprise  an  infinite  number  of  poems; 
others,  again,  explain  it  thus,  that  as  an  ocean  is  perplex- 
ing and  confusing,  so  is  a  metre  on  account  of  the  many 
changes  which  its  feet  undergo. 

The  Hezej  metres  are  said  to  be  properly  employed  for 
love-poetry,  the  Remel  for  philosophical  poetry,  the  Khaf'\f 
for  festive  poems,  and  the  Mutaq&rib  for  war  epics  and 
festive  poems. 

Of  a  great  number  of  literary  conceits  and  embellishments 
which  continually  occur  in  Eastern  poetry,  the  commonest 
and  most  striking  is  that  called  Tejn\s,  which  may  be  trans- 
lated ^equivoque.*  It  consists  in  bringing  together  two  or 
more  words  of  the  same  or  similar  sound  and  form,  but  of 
different  meanings,  and  admits  of  many  varieties.  When 
the  two  words  are  in  sound  and  form  identical,  the  tejnis 
is  perfect ;  thus —  "  Each  of  the  band  was  secured  by  a  band  * 
(strap).  When  the  vowels  or  the  initials  are  different,  it 
is  defective,  thus:  "  Sound  by  a  bond  like  an  iron  band^  \ 
and,  "  Bound  to  forfeit  a  pound* ;  and  so  on,  through  a  con- 
siderable number  of  varieties,  each  of  which  has  its  special 
technical  name.  Those  which  are  defective  —  i.e.,  in  which 


24  INTRODUCTION 

the  words  are  more  or  less  different  —  are  quite  as  much 
esteemed  as  those  in  which  they  are  identical.  An  admir- 
able example  of  the  tejnis  is  afforded  by  Mr.  Eastwick's 
exceedingly  happy  rendering  of  the  Persian  proverb,  Gurbat 
kurbat  ast,  "Travel  is  travail.* 

There  are  in  Ottoman  Poetry  a  number  of  what  may  be 
called  stock  metaphors  and  similes;  thus,  a  fair  woman  is 
always  a  moon;  a  graceful  figure,  a  cypress;  the  hair,  musk; 
or  a  dark  cloud  about  the  moon-face,  or  the  hyacinth  fallen 
over  the  r0j£-cheek ;  and  so  on,  with  many  others  of  like 
kind.  It  is  not  a  point  with  the  poet  to  invent  new  metaphors 
of  this  sort  —  those  in  existence  are  probably  as  apposite  and 
beautiful  as  any  he  is  likely  to  hit  upon ;  a  good  writer 
rather  tries  to  show  his  originality  by  presenting  the  stereo- 
typed and  time-honored  similes  in  new  combinations.  Thus 
a  poet  says:  — 

«A  moon  were  she,  were  but  the  moon  of  cypress  form; 
A  cypress  she,  had  but  that  tree  the  moon's  fair  breast.* 

Although  nothing  is  commoner  that  the  comparison  of  a 
girl  to  the  moon  or  the  cypress,  that  couplet  is  quite  original 
by  reason  of  the  condition  so  cleverly  introduced. 

Authors  sometimes  display  their  ingenuity  by  writing 
poems  (which  partake  of  the  nature  of  acrostics)  in  the 
forms  of  wheels,  trees,  squares,  etc.,  the  initials  of  all  the 
verses  of  which  spring  from  a  common  centre.  When  round 
they  are  called  mudevver,  <(  circular w ;  when  tree-shaped, 
mushejjer,  <(  arboriform"  ;  when  square,  murebba^ .  Of  course, 
these  forms  cannot  be  reproduced  in  a  translation;  but  the 
original  of  a  mudevver,  or  circular,  gazel  is  shown  in  the 
Frontispiece  of  the  present  work. 


OTTOMAN   POEMS  25 


III.— THE  RISE  AND  PROGRESS  OF 
OTTOMAN    POETRY 

VON  HAMMER  divides  his* History  of  Ottoman  Poetry®  into 
five  periods,  corresponding  to  those  of  his  <(  History  of 
the    Empire w ;    but  as  this  division  would  be  of  little 
utility  in  a  small  volume  like  the  present,  I  have  not  thought 
it  advisable    to    observe    it,    and    have    simply  arranged   the 
authors   (with  a  few  exceptions)   in  chronological  order. 

We  have  already  seen  that  when  the  Turkish  clan,  which, 
under  the  name  of  'Osmanli,  or  Ottoman,  was  destined  to 
become  so  prominent  in  after  history,  sought  refuge  in  Asia 
Minor  from  the  ferocious  conqueror  Jengz'z  Khan,  it  found 
ruling  there  the  Turkish  dynasty  of  the  Seljaqzs;  and  we 
have  likewise  noticed  how  great  an  influence  was  exercised 
by  Persia  over  the  education  and  literature  of  these  Seljwq* 
Turks.  Before  this  time  (Sa'du-'d-Dzn  gives  the  year  616 
[1219]  as  the  date  of  the  passage  of  Suleyman  Shah  and  his 
tribe  into  Armenia),  Firdevsz  and  Nizam/  had  come  and 
gone,  and,  by  the  magic  of  their  poetry,  had  given  to  Persian 
literature  and  Persian  taste  that  position  of  pre-eminence  in 
Western  Asia  which  they  have  ever  since  retained.  Sa'd* 
and  Jelalu-'d-Dm,  worthy  successors  of  the  two  great  poets 
just  named,  were  contemporaries  of  Er  Togrul,  the  son  of 
Suleyman,  and  as  the  latter  of  these,  the  author  of  the  Afesnevi, 
resided  at  Qpnya,  the  Seljwqz  capital,  we  cannot  be  surprised 
at  the  extent  to  which  the  spirit  of  Persian  poetry  and 
philosophy  pervaded  the  literary  life  of  Asia  Minor  about 
that  time.  For  the  Mesnevi  of  Jelalu-'d-Dm  is  one  of  the 
grandest  works,  not  only  in  Persian,  but  in  all  literature ;  a 
poem  (or  rather,  series  of  poems)  the  beauty  of  the  language 
and  the  depth  of  the  philosophy  of  which  have  ever  created 
a  profound  impression  on  the  minds  of  those  who  have 
studied  it.  The  almost  entirely  religious  or  mystic  character 
of  Ottoman  Poetry  from  its  birth  till  the  capture  of  Con- 
stantinople in  1453  is  directly  traceable  to  the  influence  of 
the  master-mind  of  the  great  Mevlana. 


26  INTRODUCTION 

Some  twelve  years  after  his  flight  into  Armenia,  Suley- 
man  Shah,  having  heard  of  the  death  of  Jengz'z  Khan, 
determined  to  return  with  his  tribe  to  his  own  country ;  but 
when  crossing  the  Euphrates  on  the  homeward  journey,  he 
was  accidentally  drowned.  Two  of  his  four  sons,  with  the 
greater  part  of  the  clan,  carried  out  their  intention,  returned 
to  their  native  land,  and  there  are  lost  from  sight.  But  Er 
Togrul  and  Dundar  remained  behind ;  only  four  hundred 
families  stayed  with  them,  and  these,  settling  a  few  years 
later  in  the  northwest  of  Asia  Minor,  under  'Osman  son  of 
Er  Togrul,  became  the  ancestors  of  the  glorious  Ottoman 
nation.  The  reign  of  'Osman  (who  is  regarded  as  the  first 
independent  sovereign  of  the  race,  and  from  whom  it  takes 
its  name  'Osmanli,  corrupted  into  Othoman  and  Ottoman) 
was  little  else  than  one  continuous  battle  for  existence  ;  but 
in  the  time  of  his  son  Orkhan,  when  the  youthful  state  had 
grown  stronger  and  better  able  to  protect  itself  and  secure 
periods  of  repose,  appeared  the  first  recorded  singer  of  this 
people,  who  is  known  by  no  other  name  than  '•Kshiq, 
(<The  Lover* — the  herald  of  that  long  line  of  poets  which 
has  continued  in  unbroken  succession  from  those  days  till 
now. 

As  has  been  hinted,  'vlshiq's  poem  (his  Z>iwa»,  as  it 
is  termed,  though  the  name  seems  strangely  misapplied ; 
perhaps  it  was  then  employed  more  loosely  than  it  is  now) 
is  in  subject  theological,  influenced,  as  was  natural,  by  the 
spirit  then  so  powerful  in  Asia  Minor.  Within  a  period 
of  forty  years  had  died  Jelalu-'d-Dzn,  his  son  Sultan  Veled, 
the  mystic  poet  Sheykh  Sadru-'d-D/n,  and  the  immortal 
Sa'd* —  all  Persian  writers.  The  first  three  had  been  resi- 
dent in  Asia  Minor.  Thus,  with  the  religio-mystic  spirit 
and  Persian  taste  so  powerful  in  the  very  land  where  the 
Ottomans  were  receiving  their  literary  education,  and  at 
the  very  time  when  that  education  was  beginning,  it  would 
indeed  have  been  strange  had  the  result  been  any  other  than 
that  which  actually  was  the  case.  Ottoman  Poetry  was,  in 
its  earlier  days,  well-nigh  altogether  religious  in  tone  and 
Persian  in  taste.  It  lost  its  almost  exclusively  theological 
character  about  the  time  of  the  fall  of  Constantinople  —  the 
Muhammediyya  of  Yaziji-Oglu  may  be  considered  as  the 


OTTOMAN   POEMS  27 

last  work  of  the  first  period  —  but  it  has  retained  its  Per- 
sianism  to  this  day.  Of  course,  these  statements  must  be 
taken  in  a  general  sense ;  there  were  a  few  poets,  such  as 
Ahmed  Da'/,  who  were  in  nowise  theologians,  and  although 
religion  was  indeed  the  dominating  theme,  it  was  not  the 
sole  one.  Before  the  capture  of  Stamboul,  the  Ottomans 
had  tried  their  strength  in  all  the  branches  of  Persian 
poetry  —  the  heroic,  the  romantic,  and  the.  lyric:  in  the  first 
of  these,  as  early  as  the  reign  of  Bayez/d  I.,  when  Ahmed*' 
wrote  the  Iskender-N^ma;  and  in  the  second,  when  Sheykh* 
composed  his  beautiful  poem  on  the  legend  of  Khusrev 
and  Sh/rzn.  These  works  cannot  be  considered  exceptions 
to  the  religious  literature  of  the  period,  for  they  are  really 
allegories,  not  mere  stories.  Von  Hammer  thinks  that 
Ahmed/  and  Sheykhz'  have  never  been  surpassed  by  any 
heroic  or  romantic  poet  of  their  nation.  Nesz'mz  and  Ahmed 
Da'z*  lead  the  van  of  the  mighty  host  of  lyric  poets ;  the 
first  of  these  was  a  sufz,  whose  heretical  opinions  on  relig- 
ious matters  drew  upon  him  the  hatred  of  the  orthodox 
party,  by  whom  he  was  put  to  death.  The  second  was  a 
poet  of  a  very  different  stamp,  whose  gay  and  flowery  songs 
of  love  and  wine  found  high  favor  at  the  joyous  court  which 
Prince  Suleyman,  son  of  Baryezzd  I.,  held  at  Adrianople, 
when  the  Empire  was  for  a  time  rent  in  pieces  —  the  re- 
sult of  that  terrible  day  when  the  Ottoman  flag  went 
down  before  Tz'mwr  on  the  plain  of  Angora.  Unlike  the 
first  heroic  and  romantic  writers,  these  two  earliest  lyric 
poets  are  very  far  from  being  the  best  that  the  nation  has 
produced.  Among  the  purely  religious  writers  of  this  period, 
the  first,  Mshiq,  surnamed  Pasha,  and  the  last,  Muhammed 
Yaziji-Oglu,  undoubtedly  stand  highest. 

When  Constantinople  became  the  seat  of  the  Empire,  a 
change  took  place :  lyric  poetry  (gazels  and  qasidas)  be- 
gan to  receive  the  largest  share  of  the  attention  of  Ottoman 
poets,  which,  as  we  have  seen,  had  till  then  been  devoted 
to  long  religious  poems,  each  an  entire  book  in  itself,  some- 
times more.  As  the  Empire  grew  and  prospered,  and  ex- 
tended its  boundaries  far  and  wide  on  every  side,  literature 
and  poetry  grew  and  prospered  with  it.  It  is  a  curious 
fact  that  the  tone  and  standard  of  Ottoman  poetry  have 


28  INTRODUCTION 

almost  always  kept  pace  with  the  political  fortunes  of  the 
Empire,  being  high  when  these  were  brilliant,  and  sinking 
when  they  became  obscured.  In  the  bright  days  of  Mu- 
hammed  II.  and  his  son  Bayezzd  II.,  flourished  some  of 
the  greatest  lyric  poets  of  the  nation-,  Ahmed  Pasha,  Nejatz, 
Zatt,  and  Meszh/  are  famous  names  in  the  annals  of  Otto- 
man Poetry.  Ahmed  Pasha  stood  chief  of  the  lyrists  of 
his  nation  till  his  lustre  sank  before  the  star  of  Nejatz^ 
which  for  a  whole  century  continued  to  be  the  brightest 
object  in  the  sky  of  'Osmanli  Poetry,  when,  with  all  lesser 
lights,  it  paled  before  the  radiance  of  the  rising  sun  of 
B0q/,  the  most  glorious  luminary  in  the  hemisphere  of 
Turkish  Literature. 

A  romantic  poem,  worthy  to  be  placed  alongside  of 
Sheyklu's  Shirin,  on  the  oft-told  story  of  Yasuf  and  Zu- 
leykha,  was  at  this  time  written  by  Hamdz,  son  of  the 
famous  Sheykh  Aq  Shemsu-'d-Dm.  The  learned  legist 
Ahmed  Kemal  Pasha-Zada,  whom  Sultan  Selzm  I.  took 
along  with  him  to  the  conquest  of  Egypt,  also  composed  a 
poem  on  the  same  very  favorite  subject.  About  this  time, 
too,  occurs  the  first  mention  of  poetesses  in  the  Ottoman 
Biographies:  Zeyneb  and  Mihrt  are  the  names  of  the  two 
ladies  who,  so  far  as  we  know,  first  cultivated  the  poetic 
art  among  their  people. 

At  this  period,  as  indeed  at  every  period  when  the  Em- 
pire has  been  in  a  flourishing  condition,  all  possible  en- 
couragement was  given  to  Poetry  as  well  as  to  every  other 
branch  of  literature.  Not  only  did  the  Sultans,  Princes,  and 
Vezz'rs  foster  Poetry  by  rewarding  and  patronizing  authors, 
but  they  wrote  poems  themselves.  Munzd  II.,  father  of  the 
Conqueror  of  Constantinople,  was  the  first  of  the  Poet- 
Sultans  of  the  Ottomans ;  a  few  distichs  by  him  are  em- 
balmed in  the  pages  of  the  biographers.  The  House  of 
'  Osman  has  been  gifted  to  a  very  remarkable  degree  with 
the  poetic  vein;  among  its  members  —  Sultans,  Princes,  and 
Princesses  —  it  can  perhaps  show  a  greater  number  of  poets 
than  any  other  royal  line  in  the  whole  course  of  history. 
Muhammed  II.,  the  Conqueror,  was  himself  a  good  poet, 
though  he  was  surpassed  by  his  son,  the  talented,  but 
unfortunate  Prince  Jem,  who  vainly  contested  the  throne 


OTTOMAN   POEMS  29 

with  his  elder  brother  Bayezzd  II.,  likewise  a  poet.  Sul- 
tan Seh'm  I.,  Bayezzd's  son,  is  said  to  be  the  best  of 
all  the  imperial  poets,  but  his  writings  are  mostly  in  Per- 
sian. 

Following  their  masters'  example,  many  of  the  great  of- 
ficers of  state  devoted  their  leisure  to  the  study  and  com- 
position of  poetry ;  among  the  most  remarkable  of  these  are 
the  Vezzrs  Ahmed  Pasha,  the  great  lyrist,  and  Mahmwd 
Pasha,  who  wrote  under  the  name  of  'Adem. 

Under  Suleyman  I.  and  Selzm  II.  the  Ottoman  Empire 
reached  the  summit  of  its  glory ;  throughout  these  two 
reigns  it  was  the  mightiest  power  on  earth.  Never  did  the 
Crescent  shine  so  brightly  as  during  the  long  reign  of  the 
wise  and  valiant  Suleyman;  north  and  south,  east  and 
west,  went  the  Ottoman  armies,  (<  conquering  and  to  con- 
quer* ;  while  the  Ottoman  fleets  swept  the  Mediterranean 
from  end  to  end.  Before  the  walls  of  Vienna  and  on  the 
shores  of  Malta  alone  did  Fortune  refuse  to  smile  upon 
their  arms.  Many  causes  had  tended  to  bring  about  this 
result,  one  of  the  chief  of  which  was,  that  all  the  first  ten 
Sultans  were  individually  and  innately  great  men  —  men 
who  would  have  distinguished  themselves  no  matter  what 
their  position  or  circumstances  might  have  been.  They 
were  great  administrators  no  less  than  great  warriors ;  had 
they  not  been  so  —  had  they  been  mere  barbarian  Tatar 
conquerors  like  Jengz'z  or  Timur  —  their  empire  would,  like 
the  empires  of  these  two  soldiers,  at  once  have  fallen  to 
pieces. 

The  Poetry  of  the  Ottomans,  like  their  Empire,  had  now 
reached  its  zenith.  Baqz,  Lami'/,  Fuzz/lz,  Yahya  Beg, 
Gazalz,  and  Fazlz  are  all  great  poets ;  the  first  two,  the 
very  greatest.  Suleyman  himself  wrote  gazels  under  the 
name  of  Muhibbz.  Of  his  sons,  his  successor,  Selz'm  II., 
and  the  Princes  Mustafa,  Bayez/d,  Muhammed,  and  Jihan- 
gz'r  composed  verses,  and  were  besides  protectors  of  poets. 
Selz'm  II.,  very  different  from  his  gallant  predecessors,  was 
a  drunken  profligate,  with  scarce  a  spark  of  the  Ottoman 
in  his  breast ;  however,  notwithstanding  his  faults,  this 
Sultan  wrote  some  very  pretty  gazels.  under  the  takhallus 
of  Seh'im. 


30  INTRODUCTION 

On  the  accession  of  '  Murad  III.  in  1574,  the  Empire 
began  to  decline,  and,  under  a  succession  of  effeminate  sov- 
ereigns, continued  on  the  downward  path  till  arrested,  half 
a  century  later,  by  the  iron  arm  of  Munzd  IV.  Although 
this  period  was  lit  up  with  some  bright  flashes,  such  as  the 
Battle  of  Kerestes  (in  some  respects  one  of  the  most  re- 
markable victories  ever  gained  by  the  Ottomans  over  their 
Christian  foes),  it  was  by  far  the  darkest  through  which 
the  Empire  had  yet  passed.  Along  with  political  glory, 
sank  poetry ;  not  that  writers  of  verse  were  not  numerous, 
but  few  of  them  deserved  the  name  of  poets.  'Ata'z,  the 
Muftz  Yahya,  and  (a  little  later)  the  satirist  Nef'z  are  the 
only  really  great  poets  of  this  time.  The  five  feeble  Sul- 
tans Munzd  III.,  Muhammed  III.,  Ahmed  I.,  Mustafa  I., 
and  '  Osman  II.,  who  occupied  the  throne  between  Seh'm 
II.  and  Murad  IV.,  all  composed  poems,  some  of  which 
are  not  lacking  in  grace  and  tenderness. 

Very  different  from  these  was  Sultan  Murad  IV., 
brother  of  'Osman  II. ;  in  his  breast  burned  the  strong 
fierce  spirit  of  the  First  Seh'm  :  to  such  a  state  had  corrup- 
tion and  anarchy  reduced  the  Empire  that  probably  nothing 
short  of  tyrant  vigor  could  preserve  it  from  dissolution ; 
and  of  this  Murad  had  ample  store.  He  was  successful ; 
not  only  did  he  save  the  state  from  death,  he  inspired  it 
with  new  life ;  and  in  the  reign  of  his  nephew  Muhammed 
IV.,  for  the  second  time,  broke  the  wave  of  Turkish  mili- 
tary might  against  the  walls  of  Vienna.  The  stream  of  re- 
viving vigor  coursed  through  the  whole  frame  and  spirit  of 
the  Empire,  and  with  national  greatness  rose  once  more 
literary  excellence.  The  illustrious  family  of  the  Kuprulus, 
whose  wise  administration  did  so  much  to  strengthen  the 
tottering  fabric  of  the  state,  did  not  neglect,  among  more 
pressing  duties,  to  extend  their  protection  to  men  of  let- 
ters. 

We  may  pause  here  to  notice  that  from  Murad  II.  to  Murad 
IV.,  inclusive,  we  have  an  unbroken  line  of  Poet-Sultans: 
verses  by  each  of  the  twelve  monarchs  whose  reigns  fall 
within  that  period  are  preserved  to  this  day.  When  regard 
is  had  to  this  and  to  the  further  fact  that  gazels  have  been 
composed  by  several  other  Sultans  (notably,  Seh'm  III.  and 


OTTOMAN   POEMS  31 

Mahmwd  II.),  as  well  as  by  many  Princes  who  never  as- 
cended the  throne,  it  must  he  conceded  that  the  claim 
which,  a  page  or  two  back,  was  advanced  for  the  House 
of  '  Osman  is  not  unworthy  of  consideration.  But  although 
the  Ottoman  Sultans  may  perhaps  have  cultivated  Poetry 
with  greater  assiduity  and  success  than  any  other  race  of 
Kings,  they  are  very  far  from  being  the  only  Oriental  sov- 
ereigns who  have  practiced  this  graceful  art ;  indeed  the 
composition  of  verses  seems  to  have  been  always  a  favorite 
pursuit  of  Muslim  monarchs  :  and  many  poems,  some  of 
high  merit,  written  by  Arabian  and  Spanish  Khalzfas  Tatar 
Sultans,  Persian  Shahs,  Afghan  Erm'rs,  Crimean  Khans,  and 
Indian  Emperors,  remain  to  attest  the  learning  and  refine- 
ment that  adorned  those  Asian  sovereigns. 

The  fresh  strength  with  which  the  energetic  but  fierce 
genius  of  Murad  IV.  had  inspired  the  Empire  lasted 
through  the  reigns  of  his  brother  the  voluptuary  Ibralum 
and  his  nephew,  the  great  huntsman,  Muhammed  IV.,  till 
the  terrible  disaster  before  Vienna  thrust  the  Ottoman  Power 
once  more  on  to  the  steep  incline  of  ruin.  In  spite  of  the 
noble  efforts  of  the  Kuprulus,  which,  though  they  did  much 
to  break  the  fall,  could  not  avert  it,  the  state  sank  rapidly 
till,  in  the  days  of  Selz'm  III.,  it  reached  the  very  verge  of 
extinction.  The  history  of  Poetry  shows  during  this  period 
of  decline  one  great  name,  Nab/,  a  poet  whose  works  are 
unsurpassed  by  those  of  any  subsequent  author.  *^4rif, 
Sam/,  the  two  Vehbzs  and,  later,  Galib  are  good  poets ;  for 
the  rest,  though  numerous,  they  have  little  merit. 

Selz'm  III.  saw  the  woeful  plight  of  his  country ;  he 
perceived  that  sweeping  changes  were  imperatively  called 
for  in  every  department  of  the  state,  especially  in  the 
army  and  navy,  to  enable  the  Ottoman  Empire  to  hold 
out  against  her  aggressive  foes.  The  introduction  of  these 
reforms,  which  marks  the  beginning  of  a  new  and  brighter 
era  of  Turkish  history,  cost  this  brave  but  unfortunate 
monarch  his  life.  The  Empire  has  never  been  so  feeble  as 
it  was  during  this  period  of  transition,  when  its  ancient 
legions  had  ceased  to  exist,  and  its  modern  army  was  yet  un- 
formed. Sultan  Selrni  III.  wrote  many  poems  which  show 
how  deeply  he  felt  the  sadness  of  his  lot.  Mahmwd  II. 


32  INTRODUCTION 

(another  poet)  successfully  continued  his  cousin's  work;  and 
his  successors  have  done  the  same.  Though  the  Empire  has 
sustained  many  shocks  during  the  reigns  of  these  last  Sul- 
tans, they  have  been  almost  always  caused  by  foreign  violence 
or  treachery,  and  are  not  the  results  (as  used  to  be  the 
case)  of  internal  weakness  and  anarchy.  Even  when  such 
blows  have  taken  the  form  of  insurrections,  they  are  still 
almost  invariably  to  be  traced,  as  in  the  instance  of  last  re- 
volts in  Bulgaria  and  Servia,  to  the  intrigues  of  foreign 
emissaries.  The  old  race  of  rebellious  Pashas,  who,  setting 
the  Sultan's  authority  at  defiance,  and  ofttimes  making  suc- 
cessful war  upon  his  troops,  used  to  carve  out  of  his 
provinces  ephemeral  kingdoms  for  themselves,  has  long  since 
passed  away.  Even  in  extent  of  territory,  the  Empire  may  be 
said  not  to  have  decreased,  but  increased;  for,  though  many  of 
its  old  European  provinces  have  fallen  away  from  the  sway  of 
Constantinople,  Sultan  'Abdu-'l-Harm'd  II.  holds  rule  over 
vast  territories  in  Africa,  of  which  <(even  Suleyman  in  all 
his  glory8  was  ignorant  of  the  very  names. 

Of  the  many  illustrious  poets  who  have  flourished  in  the 
present  century,  none  holds  a  higher  position  than  'Izzet 
Molla,  the  author  of  the  Mihnet-i  Kesh&n;  and  the  talented 
Ziya  Pasha,  who  died  but  a  few  years  ago,  may  also  justly 
lay  claim  to  a  distinguished  position  among  the  poets  of 
his  nation. 


OTTOMAN    POEMS 


(33) 


NOTE  ON  ORIENTAL  WORDS 

THE  Ottoman  vowel  system  is  very  intricate.     To  simplify 
it  we  have  avoided  the  use  of  accents   by    using   Ro- 
man type  for  accentuated  vowels  in  the  Italicized  words, 
and  Italics  for  the  vowels  in  the  Roman  text-type. 

a  may  be  pronounced  as  a  in  ^father,"  the  latter  rather  longer  than 

[the  former. 

e  e  in  ^when.8 

i          "  "  i  in  «thin.» 

i  i  in  (<  ravine.8 

o  o  in  ^go.* 

u  oo  in  <(good,w  the  latter  rather  longer. 

ay       "  the  word  <(eye.B 

ey       "  ey  in  ^they.* 

ch      is  to  ch  in  « church.* 

g  in  Kget8;  never  soft,  as  in  <(gem.* 

kh  "  ch  in  the  German  word  <(  Nacht.  *  Until  the 

true  pronunciation  is  acquired,  it  is 
better  to  pronounce  this  letter  (it  is  a 
single  letter  in  Turkish)  as  a  single 
h  than  as  a  k ;  thus  « han  w  is  a  bet- 
ter pronunciation  for  ^khan*  than 
«kan.» 

q  **  k.  It  is  used  here  to  replace  the  Semitic 

Qdf,  of  which  it  is  the  lineal  descend- 
ant, cf.  Qarashat  and  Q  R  s  T. 

s  sharp,  as  in  (<set»;  never  soft  like  z,  as  in 

« reason. » 

sh        "  "  in         « shall. » 

'  represents  the  Arabic  letter  '•Ayn;  and  '  the  sign  Hemza,  or  (in 
Arabic  compound  names)  an  elided  Eltf.  These  are  not  sounded 
in  the  language  of  Constantinople. 

The  other  letters  present  no  difficulty;  they  are  to  be  pronounced 
as  in  English. 

(34) 


OTTOMAN   POEMS 


IQ    PASHA 

733 
From  the  '^4shiq    Pasha 

Kulli   'alem    bir   ish&ret   dir  hema.n 

ALL  the  Universe,  one  mighty  sign,   is  shown; 
God  hath  myriads  of  creative  acts  unknown: 
None  hath  seen  them,  of  the  races  jinn3  and  men, 
None  hath  news  brought  from  that  realm  far  off  from  ken. 
Never  shall  thy  mind  or  reason  reach  that  strand, 
Nor  can  tongue  the  King's  name  utter  of  that  land. 
Since  'tis  His  each  nothingness  with  life  to  vest, 
Trouble  is  there  ne'er  at  all  to  His  behest. 
Eighteen  thousand  worlds,  from  end  to  end,* 
Do  not  with  Him  one  atom's  worth  transcend. 

(35) 


AHMED/ 
815  [1412] 

I 

From   the    Iskender-Nama5 
Siiiveylegil   ey    bulbul-i   'anqa.-sifat! 

Up  AND  sing !     O   'anqa-natured  nightingale  !  6 
High  in  every  business  doth  thy  worth  prevail : 
Sing!   for  good  the  words  are  that  from  thee  proceed; 
Whatsoever  thou  dost  say  is  prized  indeed. 
Then,  since  words  to  utter  thee  so  well  doth  suit, 
Pity  were  it  surely  if  thy  tongue  were  mute. 
Blow  a  blast  in  utt'rance  that  the  Trusted  One,7 
When  he  hears,  ten  thousand  times  may  cry:  (<  Well  done !  w 
Up  and  sing  !      O  bird  most  holy !   up  and  sing ! 
Unto  us  a  story  fair  and  beauteous  bring. 
Let  not  opportunity  slip  by,  silent  there; 
Unto  us  the  beauty  of  each  word  declare. 
Seldom  opportunities  like  this  with  thee  lie ; 
Sing  then,  for  th'  occasion  now  is  thine,  so  hie! 
Lose  not  opportunities  that  thy  hand  doth  find, 
For  some  day  full  suddenly  Death  thy  tongue  shall  bind. 
Of  how  many  singers,  eloquent  of  words, 
Bound  have  Death  and  Doom  the  tongues  fast  in  their  cords  ! 
Lose  not,  then,  th'  occasion,  but  to  joy  look  now, 
For  one  day  thy  station  'neath  earth  seek  must  thou. 
Whilst  the  tongue  yet  floweth,   now  thy  words  collect; 
Them  as  meaning's  taper  'midst  the  feast  erect, 
That  thy  words,   remaining  long  time  after  thee, 
To  the  listeners  hearing  shall  thy  record  be. 
Thy  mementoes  lustrous  biding  here  behind, 
Through  them  they'll  recall  thee,  O  my  soul,  to  mind. 
(36) 


AHMED/  37 

Those  who've  left  mementoes  ne'er  have  died  in  truth ; 
Those  who've  left  no  traces  ne'er  have  lived  in  sooth. 
Surely  with  this  object  didst  thou  come  to  earth, 
That  to  mind  should  ever  be  recalled  thy  worth. 
"May  I  die  not!"  say'st  thou,   one  of  noble  race? 
Strive,  then,  that  thou  leavest  here  a  name  of  grace. 


38  OTTOMAN   POEMS 


II 

From  the  Same  8 
Pes  dedi  bir  gun    Vezira    T&j-ver 

ONCE  unto  his  Vezzr  quoth  the  Crowned  King  : 
<(Thou,  who  in  my  world-realm  knowest  every  thing! 
With  my  sword  I've  conquered  many  and  many  a  shore  ; 
Still  I  sigh  right  sorely  :   (  Ah !   to  conquer  more !  > 
Great  desire  is  with  me  realms  to  overthrow ; 
Through  this  cause   I  comfort  ne'er  a  moment  know. 
Is  there  yet  a  country   whither  we  may  wend, 
Where  as  yet  our  mighty  sway  doth  not  extend, 
That  we  may  it  conquer,   conquer  it  outright? 
Ours  shall  be  the  whole  earth  —  ours  it  shall  be  quite. w 
Then  when  heard  the  Vezzr  what  the  King  did  say, 
Quoth  he  :   <(  Realm-o'erthrowing  Monarch,  live  for  aye ! 
May  the  Mighty  Ruler  set  thy  crown  on  high, 
That  thy  throne  may  ever  all  assaults  defy! 
May  thy  life's  rose  garden  never  fade  away! 
May  thy  glory's  orchard  never  see  decay! 
Thou'st  the  Peopled  Quarter  ta'en  from  end  to  end ;  9 
All  of  its  inhabitants  slaves  before  thee  bend. 
There's  on  earth  no  city,  neither  any  land, 
That  is  not,   O  Monarch,  under  thy  command. 
In  the  Peopled  Quarter  Seven  Climes  are  known, 
And  o'er  all  of  these  thy  sway  extends  alone !  M 


SHEYKH/ 
830  [i426ca] 

I 

From  Khusrev  and  Sh/rzn10 
Meger  qondugu  ycr  Perviz  Sha.hin. 

THE  spot  at  which  did  King  Khusrev  Pervzz  light 
Was  e'en  the  ruined   dwelling  of   that  moon  bright.11 
Whilst  wand'ring  on,   he  comes  upon  that  parterre, 
As  on  he  strolls,  it  opes  before  his  eyes  fair. 
Among  the  trees  a  night-hued  courser  stands  bound 
(On  Heaven's  charger's  breast  were  envy's  scars  found). 
As  softly  moved  he,  sudden  on  his  sight  gleamed 
A  moon  that  in  the   water  shining  bright  beamed. 
O  what  a  moon !   a  sun  o'er  earth  that  light  rains  — 
Triumphant,  happy,  blest  he  who  her   shade  gains. 
She  'd  made  the  pool  a  casket  for  her  frame  fair, 
And  all  about  that  casket  spread  her  dark  hair. 
Her  hand  did  yonder  curling  serpents  back  throw — 12 
The  dawn  'tis,  and  thereof  we  never  tired  grow.13 
He  saw  the  water  round  about  her  ear  play  ; 
In  rings  upon  her  shoulders  her  dark  locks  lay. 
When  yon  heart-winning  moon  before  the  King  beamed, 
The  King  became  the  sun  —  in  him  Love's  fire  gleamed. 
The  tears  e'en  like  to  water  from  his  eyes  rolled; — 
Was't  strange,   when  did  a  Watery  Sign  the  Moon  hold?14 
No  power  was  left  him,  neither  sport  nor  pleasure; 
He  bit  his  finger,  wildered  beyond  measure.15 
Unconscious  of  his  gaze,  the  jasmine-breasted, — 
The  hyacinths  o'er  the  narcissi  rested.16 
When  shown  her  day-face,  from  that  musky  cloud  bare17 
Her  eyes  oped  ShzWn  and  beheld  the  King  there. 

(39) 


40  OTTOMAN   POEMS 

Within  that  fountain,  through  dismay  and  shamed  fright, 
She  trembled  as  on  water  doth  the  moonlight. 
Than  this  no  other  refuge  could  yon  moon  find 
That  she  should  round  about  her  her  own  locks  bind. 
The  moon  yet  beameth  through  the  hair,   the  dark  night,18 
With  tresses  how  could  be  concealed  the  sun  bright? 
To  hide  her  from  him,  round  her  she  her  hair  flung, 
And  thus  as  veil  her  night  before  her  day  hung. 


SHEYKH7 


II 

From  the   Same 
Gunul  bagladi  chun  SJnrina  Ferh&d 

WHEN  Ferh<zd  bound  to  fair  Shz'rm  his  heart's  core, 
From  out    his  breast  Love  many  a  bitter  wail  tore. 
On  tablet  of  his  life  graved,  shown  was    Sh/rzn ; 
Of  all  else    emptied,  filled  alone  with  Shz'rzn. 
As  loathed  he  the  companionship  of  mankind. 
In  wild  beasts  'midst  the  hills  did  he  his  friends  find. 
His  guide  was  Pain ;  his  boon-companion,  Grief's  throe ; 
His  comrade,  Sorrow,  and  his  closest   friend,  Woe. 
Thus  wand'ring  on,  he  knew  not  day  from  dark  night; 
For  many  days  he  onward  strayed  in  sad  plight. 
Although  before  his  face  a  wall  of  stone  rise, 
Until  he  strikes  against  it,  blind  his  two  eyes. 
Though  yearning  for  his  love  he  from  the  world  fled; 
From  out  his  soul  into  his  body  Death  sped. 
Because  he  knew  that  when  the  earthly  frame  goes, 
Eternal,  Everlasting  Being  love  shows, 
He  fervent  longed  to  be  from  fleshly  bonds  free, 
That  then  his  life  in  very  truth  might  Life  see. 
In  sooth,  till  dies  the  body,  Life  is  ne'er  found, 
Nor  with  the  love  of  life  the  Loved  One  e'er  found.19 


Y  AZI  JI-OGLU 

853  [i449] 
From  the  Muhammediyya  20 

THE  CREATION  OF  PARADISE  21 

Gel    beri   ey    t&lib-t    Haqq    isterisen    ibtihtf 

HITHER  come,   O  seeker  after  Truth! 
if  joy  thou  wouldest  share, 

Enter  on  the  Mystic   Pathway, 

follow  it,  then  joy  thou'lt  share.22 
Hearken  now  what  God  (exalted  high  His  name!) 

from  nought  hath  formed. 
Eden's  bower  He  hath  created ;   Light, 

its  lamp,  he  did  prepare; 
Loftiest  its  sites,  and  best  and 

fairest  are  its  blest  abodes ; 
Midst  of  each  a  hall  of  pearls — 

not  ivory  nor  teak-wood  rare. 
Each  pavilion  He  from  seventy  ruddy 

rubies  raised  aloft, — 
Dwellings  these  in    which  the  dwellers  sit 

secure  from    fear  or  care. 
Round  within  each  courtyard  seventy  splendid 

houses  He  hath  ranged, 
Formed  of  emeralds  green,  houses  these 

no  fault  of  form  that  bear. 
There,   within  each  house,   are  seventy 

pearl  and  gem-encrusted  thrones; 
He  upon  each  throne  hath  stretched  out 

seventy  couches  broidered  fair; 
Sits  on  every  couch  a  maiden  of  the 

bourne  of  loveliness: 
(42) 


YAZIJI-OGLU  43 

Moons  their  foreheads,  days  their  faces,  each 

a  jeweled  crown   doth  wear; 
Wine  their  rubies,23  soft  their  eyes,  their 

eyebrows  troublous,  causing  woe  : 
All-enchanting,   Paradise  pays  tribute 

to  their  witching  air. 
Sudden  did  they  see  the  faces  of  those 

damsels  dark  of  eye, 
Blinded  sun  and  moon   were,  and  Life's  Stream 

grew  bitter  then  and  there. 
Thou  wouldst  deem  that  each  was  formed  of 

rubies,  corals,   and  of  pearls; 
Question  there  is  none,   for  God  thus  in 

the  Qur'an  doth   declare.24 
Tables  seventy,   fraught  with  bounties, 

He  in  every  house  hath  placed, 
And  on  every  tray  hath  spread  out  seventy 

sorts  of  varied  fare. 

******* 
All  these  glories,   all  these  honors, 

all  these  blessings  of  delight, 
All  these  wondrous  mercies  surely  for 

his  sake  He  did  prepare  : 
Through  His  love  unto  Muhammed, 

He  the  universe  hath  framed ;  28 
Happy,  for  his  sake,   the  naked 

and  the  hungry  enter  there. 
O  Thou  Perfectness  of  Potence ! 

O  Thou  God  of  Awful  Might! 
O  Thou  Majesty  of  Glory  ! 

O  Thou  King  of  Perfect  Right ! 

Since  He  Eden's  Heaven  created, 

all  is  there  complete  and  whole, 
So  that  nought  is  lacking;    nothing 

He  created  needs  repair. 
Yonder,  for  His  righteous  servants, 

things  so  fair  hath  He   devised, 
That  no  eye  hath  e'er  beheld  them ; 

ope  thy  soul's  eye,  on  them  stare. 


44  OTTOMAN   POEMS 

Never  have  His  servants  heard  them, 

neither  can  their  hearts  conceive; 
Reach  unto  their  comprehension 

shall  this  understanding  ne'er.26 
There  that  God  a  station  lofty, 

of  the  loftiest,   hath  reared, 
That  unclouded  station  He  the 

name  Veszla  caused  to  bear, 
That  to  His  Beloved  yonder  station, 

a  dear  home  may  be,27 
Thence  ordained  is  Heaven's  order 

free  from  every  grief  and  care. 
In  its  courtyard's  riven  center, 

planted  He  the  Twba-Tree; 
That  a  tree  which  hangeth  downward, 

high  aloft  its  roots  are  there  : 
Thus  its  radiance  all  the  Heavens 

lighteth  up  from  end  to  end, 
Flooding  every  tent  and  palace, 

every  lane  and  every  square.28 
Such  a  tree  the  Tuba,  that  that  Gracious  One 

hath  in  its  sap 
Hidden  whatso'er  there  be  of  gifts  and 

presents  good  and  fair ; 
Forth  therefrom  crowns,  thrones,  and  jewels, 

yea,  and  steeds  and  coursers  come, 
Golden  leaves  and  clearest  crystals, 

wines  most  pure  beyond  compare. 
For  his  sake  there  into  being  hath  He 

called  the  Twba-Tree, 
That  from  Ebw-Qasim's  hand  might 

everyone  receive  his  share.29 
******* 


SULTAN   MUR^D   II 


RUB^'7 
Sagi,  gutur^  gutur  yene  dunki  sherabimi 

CUP-BEARER,  bring,  bring  here  again  my 
yestereven's  wine  ;  30 
My  harp  and  rebeck  bring,  them  bid 

address  this  heart  of  mine  : 
Whilst  still  I  live,   'tis  meet  that  I  should  mirth 

and  glee  enjoy  ; 

The  day  shall  come  when  none  may  e'en  my 
resting-place  divine. 

(45) 


'AVN7 
(SULTAN  MUHAMMED   II) 

886  [1481] 

I 

GAZEL 
Zulfuna  fad-i  saba  erdikja  ja.nler  defreshir 

SOULS  are  fluttered  when  the  morning  breezes 
through  thy  tresses  stray ; 
Waving  cypresses  are  wildered  when  thy 

motions  they  survey.32 
Since  with  witchcraft  thou  hast  whetted 

keen  the  lancet  of  thy  glance, 
All  my  veins  are  bleeding  inward  through 

my  longing  and  dismay. 
*  Why  across  thy  cheek  disordered  float  thy 

tresses  ?*     asked  I  her. 
(<  It  is  Rwm-Eyh'/  there  high-starred  heroes 

gallop, w  did  she  say.33 
Thought  I,  though  I  spake  not :  <(  In  thy  quarter, 

through  thy  tint  and  scent,3* 
Wretched  and  head-giddy,   wand'ring,  those  who 

hope  not  for  stray.8 
<( Whence  the  anger  in  thy  glances,  O  sweet  love?" 

I  said;  then  she  : 
"Silence!   surely  if  I  shed  blood,  I  the 

ensigns  should  display.  * 
Even  as  thou  sighest,   'Avm,  shower  thine 

eyes  tears  fast  as  rain, 
Like  as  follow  hard  the  thunder-roll  the 

floods  in  dread  array.38 
(46) 


•AVN7  47 


II 

FRAGMENT  OF  GAZKL 

Jigcrim  faraladi  khanjer-i  jevr  u  sitemin 

TORN  and  pierced  my  heart  has  been  by  thy  scorn 
and  tyranny's  blade ; 
Rent  by  the  scissors  of  grief  for  thee  is  the  robe 

that  my  patience  arrayed. 
Like  the  mihrab  of  the  Ka'ba,  as  shrine  where 

in  worship  to  turn,36 
Thy  ward  would  an  angel  take,  if  thy  foot-print 

there  he  surveyed. 
They  are  pearls,   O  mine  eye!   thou  sheddest 

her  day-bright  face  before ; 

Not  a  tear  is  left  —  these  all  are  dried  by  the  beams 
by  her  cheek  displayed. 


48  OTTOMAN   POEMS 


III 

GAZEL 

Imtis&l-i  Jahida'  fi-'llah  olup  dur  niyyetim 

To  OBEY   Fight  hard  for  Allah?1  is  my  aim 
and  my  desire ; 
'Tis  but  zeal  for  Faith,  for  Islam, 

that  my  ardor  doth  inspire. 
Through  the  grace  of  Allah,  and  thf  assistance 

of  the  Band  Unseen,38 
Is  my  earnest  hope  the  Infidels  to  crush 

with  ruin  dire. 
On  the  Saints39  and  on  the  Prophets  surely 

doth  my  trust  repose ; 
Through  the  love  of  God,  to  triumph  and  to 

conquest  I  aspire. 
What  if  I  with  soul  and  gold  strive  here 

to  wage  the  Holy  War  ? 
Praise  is  God's!  ten  thousand  sighs  for  battle 

in  my  breast  suspire. 
O  Muhammed  !   through  the  chosen  Ahmed 

Mukhtar's  glorious  aid,40 
Hope  I  that  my  might  may  triumph  over 

Islam's  foes  acquire  ! 


'ADEN/ 
(THE   GRAND   VEZ/R  MAHMC/D   PASHA) 

879    [H74] 

I 
GAZEL 

Sh&d   olmaq   isteyen   gam    ila    mubtelz.  gerek 

WHO    pleasure    seeks    must   oftentimes    experience 
sad  pain,   in  sooth ; 
He  must  a  beggar  be  who  doth  desire  to 

win  domain,  in  sooth. 
Whene'er  I  sigh,   up  rise  my  tears,  they,  boiling, 

fast  o'erflow  my  eyes; 
Winds  surely  must  full  fiercely  blow,   with  waves 

to  fill  the  main,  in  sooth. 
My  heart's  domain  now  thought  of  thee,  now 

grief  for  thee,   alternate  rule ; 
This  realm  to  wreck  and  waste  to  lay  those  two 

sublime  Kings  strain,  in  sooth. 
Spite  zeal  and  prayers,  Truth  sure  is  found  within 

the  cup  that's  filled  with  wine  ; 
So  acts  of  rakes  are  free  from  all  hypocrisy's 

foul  stain,  in  sooth.41 
O  'Aden/,  rub  thou  thy  face  low  'midst  the  dust 

that  lines  her  path; 
For  eyes  with  blood  filled  stand  in  need  of  twtya, 

health  to  gain,  in  sooth.42 
4  (49) 


50  OTTOMAN   POEMS 


II 

FRAGMENT  OF   GAZEL 
Gurdugumja  'anberin  zulfun    rukh-i  dildarda 

WHEN  I  saw  my  love's  hair,  ambergris-hued, 
o'er  her  visage  shake,43 
(<  Strange, B    I   thought,   (<a   moon,  musk-shedding, 

'midst  the  flowers  its  bed  should  make! )>44 
How  thy  locks,  moon-face,  are  fallen  o'er  thy 

cheek  in  many  a  curl! 
As  in  day  he  lies  reposing,   so  in  strength 

doth  gain  the  snake.45 
From  thy  cheek  the  rose  and  tulip  tint  and 

scent  have  stol'n  indeed; 

Therefore  through  the  bazar  round  they  bear  them, 
bounden  to  the  stake.46 


AFITABS 

880   [1475  ca.] 

GAZKL 

Tene  dish  yarasi  var  sib-i  zenakhd&ninda 

AGAIN,     then,     doth    this    apple,     thy    chin,    tooth-marks 
wear!  « 

Again  they've  eaten  peaches  in  thine  orchard  fair !  *8 
If    strange  hands    have    not  reached  thee,   O    rosebud-lipped 

one, 

Doth  thy  rose-garden's  pathway  a  foot-step  print  bear! 
I  cannot  reach  thee  before  rivals  all  throng  thee  round  : 
Less  for  true  lover  than  vile  dog  dost  thou  care. 
Witness    that    thou   with  my    rivals    the    cup    drain'dst    last 

night, 

Bears  the  sleepless  and  worn  look  thy  languid  eyes  wear. 
With  whom  didst  thou  last  even  carouse,  that  this  day 
Morn's  zephyr  about  thee  did  so  much  news  declare? 
Beholding  thy  lips  hurt,49  Afitabz  hath  said  : 
<(  Again,  then,  doth  this  apple,  thy  chin,  tooth-marks  wear  !" 

(5D 


Z  E  Y  N  E  B 

886  [1481  ca.] 

GAZEL 

Keshf  f.t  niqubtni,  yeri  gukti  munewer  et 

CAST  off  thy  veil,  and  heaven  and  earth  in 
dazzling  light  array  ! 

As  radiant  Paradise,   this  poor  demented 

world  display! 
Move  thou  thy  lips,  make  play  the  ripples   light 

of  Kevser's  pool !  50 
Let  loose  thy  scented  locks,   and  odors  sweet 

through  earth  convey  ! 
A  musky  warrant  by  thy  down  was  traced, 

and  zephyr  charged  : — 51 
(<  Speed,   with  this  scent  subdue  the  realms 

of  China  and  Cathay  !»M 
O  heart !   should  not  thy  portion  be  the   Water 

bright  of  Life, 
A  thousand  times  mayst  thou  pursue  Isken- 

der's  darksome  way.53 
O  Zeyneb,   woman's  love  of  earthly  show 

leave  thou  behind ; 
Go  manly  forth,   with  single  heart,  forsake 

adornment  gay  !  54 
152) 


XEB 


id  earth  in 
ntcd 

:      the  ripples   light 

of  Kevs,  TffE  MORNING  $ATH 
Let  loose  thy  scented  weet 

thipatf^rtiW&kr  after  the  painting  by  Gerome. 
A  musky  warrant  by  thy 

d  zephyr  charged  : — 61 

'(  Speed,   with  this  scent  subdue  the  realms 
of  China  and  Cathay  !"M 
'   should  not  thy  portion  be  ter 

^ht  of  Life, 

At-  rimes  tnayst  th"  en- 

dcr's  darksome  way.M 

.    show 

•art,  forsake 


PRINCE     JEM 
901    [J495] 

I 
GAZEL 

Dil  hefak  eyler  guzun,  khancher  cheker  /aw  usiuna 

AH  !   THINE  eyes  lay  waste  the  heart,  they  'gainst  the 
soul  bare  daggers  dread ; 

See  how  sanguinary  gleam  they  —  blood  aye  upon 

blood  they  shed. 
Come,  the  picture  of  thy  down  bear  unto  this 

my  scorched  breast, — 
It  is  customary  fresh  greens  over  the  broiled 

flesh  to  spread.55 
Said  I:     (<  O  Life!   since  thy  lip  is  life, 

to  me  vouchsafe  a  kiss.w 
Smiling  rose-like,   "Surely,  surely,  by  my  life," 

she  answered. 
As  I  weep  sore,  of  my  stained  eyebrow 

and  my  tears  of  blood, 
<(  'Tis  the  rainbow  o'er  the  shower  stretched," 

were  by  all  beholders  said. 
Whilst  within  my  heart  thine  eye's  shaft, 

send  not  to  my  breast  despair; 
Idol  mine!   guest  after  guest  must  not  to  one 

same  house  be  led. 
Through  its  grieving  for  thy  hyacinthine  down, 

thus  feeble  grown 
Is  the  basil,  that  the  gardeners  nightly  o'er 

it  water  shed.  56 
Quoth  I:     (<  O  Life!   do  not  shun  Jem, 

he  a  pilgrim  here  hath  come;" 
<(  Though  a  pilgrim,  yet  his  life  doth  on  a 

child's  face  hang,"  she  said. 

(53) 


54  OTTOMAN   POEMS 


II 

FRAGMENT 
Tashiarl  aukunuf  yurur  &b-i  rewani  gur 

Lo!   THERE  the  torrent,   dashing  'gainst    the  rocks, 
doth  wildly  roll ; 
The  whole  wide  realm  of  Space  and  Being 

ruth  hath  on  my  soul.57 
Through  bitterness  of  grief  and  woe  the  morn 

hath  rent  its  robe; 
See!   O  in  dawning's  place,  the  sky  weeps  blood, 

without  control ! 
Tears  shedding,  o'er  the  mountain-tops  the  clouds 

of  heaven  pass; 

Hear,   deep  the  bursting  thunder  sobs  and  moans 
through  stress  of  dole. 


AHMED     PASHA 
(GRAND  VEZ/R) 
902    [1496] 
GAZEL 

Jz.no.  qalmaz  buse'-i  la'l-i  leb-i  y&r  isteyen 

HE  WHO  longs  for    ruby  lip's   kiss  may  not 
calm  of  soul  remain  ; 

He  his  head  must  yield  who  hopes  the 

dusky  locks'  sweet  scent  to  gain. 
Still  in  heart  abides  not  longing's    flame  when 

one  her  ward  beholds ; 
Him  who  seeks  her  face  contents  not  even 

Heaven's  flowery  plain. 
Yonder  sugar-lip's  surrounded  by  her  cheek's 

down; — where  art  thou, 
O  thou  seeker  of  the  rose's  company  without 

thorn's   pain? 
Wouldest  thou  delight?     Then   plunge  thou 

deep  beneath  Love's  ocean  surge ; 
He  who  would  for  regal  pearls  dive,  surely 

should  know  well  the  main.58 
Though  the  loved  one  mocks  at  Ahmed's  faults 

and  failings,  what  of  that? 
He  who  seeks  a  friend  that's  blameless  must 

without  a  friend  remain. 

(55) 


NEJ^T/ 
914  [1508] 

I 

From  his  Winter  Qasz'da59 
Oldu  chunkim  melakh  berf  he-w&den   n&zil 

LOCUST-LIKE   down  from  the  sky 
the  snowflakes  wing  their   way ; 
From  the  green-plumaged  bird,  Delight, 

O  heart !   hope  not  for  lay. 
Like  drunken  camels,  spatter  now  the  clouds 

earth's  winding-sheet ; 
Laded  the  caravan  of  mirth  and  glee, 

and  passed  away. 
With  lighted  lamps  in  daytime  seek 

the  people  for  the  sun ; 
Yet  scarce,  with  trouble,  a  dim, 
fitful  spark  discover  they. 
*  *  *  *  * 

The  Moon  in  Sign  of  Bounteousness  ! 

the  Shade  of  Allah's  grace ! 
The  King,  star-armied !   he  in  aspect   fair 

as  Hermes'  ray  — 
The  Khan  Muhammed !   at  the  portal 

of  whose  sphere  of  might 
To  wait  as  servants  would  Darius  and 

Key-Khusrev  pray !  60 
E'en  should  the  sun  till  the   Last  Day 

it  measure  with  gold  beam, 
Nor  shore  nor  depth  could  e'er    it 

find  to  th'  ocean  of  his  sway! 
(56) 


NEJ^T/  57 

II 

From  his  Spring  Qasz'da 
Khand'&n  eder  jih'&ni  yene  fasl-i  nev-bah&r 

THE  early  springtide  now  hath  made  earth 
smiling  bright  again, 

E'en  as  doth  union  with  his  mistress 

soothe  the  lover's    pain. 
They  say  :   (<  'Tis  now  the  goblet's  turn, 

the  time  of  mirth  'tis  now }>  ; 
Beware  that  to  the  winds  thou  castest  not 

this  hour  in  vain. 
Theriaca  within  their  ruby  pots 

the  tulips  lay  :  61 
See  in  the  mead  the  running  streamlet's 

glistening,   snake-like  train. 
Onwards,  beneath  some  cypress-tree's 

loved  foot  its  face  to  rub, 
With  turn  and  turn,  and  singing  sweet, 

the  brook  goes  through  the  plain. 
Lord!   may  this  happy  union  of 

felicity  and  earth, 
Like  turn  of  sun  of  Love,  or  Jesu's  life, 

standfast  remain !  62 
May  glee  and  mirth,  e'en  as  desired, 

continuous  abide, 
Like  to  a  mighty  Key-Khusrev's,  or  Jemshz'd's, 

glorious  reign !  63 

***** 
Sultan  Muhammed  !   Murad's  son  ! 

the  Pride  of  Princes  all ; 
He,  the  Darius,   who  to  all  earth's  Kings 

doth  crowns   ordain  ! 
Monarch  of  stars !    whose  flag's  the  sun, 

whose  stirrup  is  the  moon ! 
Prince  dread  as  Doom,  and  strong  as  Fate, 

and  bounteous  as  main ! 


58  OTTOMAN   POEMS 

III 

From  His    Qasz'da  on   the  Accession  of    Sultan  Bayezzd  IL 
Bir  dun  ki  qilmishidi  jem&lina  a/f/a* 

ONE  eve,  when  had  the  Sun  before  her 
radiant  beauty  bright 
Let  down  the  veil  of  ambergris, 

the  musky  locks  of  night; 
(Off  had  the  royal  hawk,  the  Sun, 

flown  from  the  Orient's  hand, 
And  lighted  in  the  West  ;  flocked   after 

him  the  crows  in  flight ; ) 
To  catch  the  gloomy  raven,  Night,  the  fowler 

skilled,  the  Sphere, 
Had  shaped  the  new-moon  like  the  claw  of 

eagle,  sharp  to  smite ; 
In  pity  at  the  doleful  sight  of  sunset's 

crimson    blood, 
Its  veil  across  the  Heaven's  eye  had  drawn 

the  dusky  Night. 
***** 

Sultan  of  Rome !  6*  Khusrev  of  the 

Horizons !  65  Bayezz'd ! 
King  of  the  Epoch!   Sovereign! 

and  Centre  of  all  Right ! 
The  tablet  of  his  heart  doth  all  th'  affairs 

of  earth  disclose ; 
And  eloquent  as  page  of  book  the  words 

he  doth  indite. 
O  Shah!  I'm  he  who,  'midst  th'  assembly 

where  thy  praise  is  sung, 
Will,  rebeck-like,  a  thousand  notes  upon 

one  cord  recite.66 
'Tis  meet  perfection  through  thy  name  to  my 

poor  words  should  come, 
As  to  rosewater  perfume  sweet  is  brought 

by  sunbeam's  light. 


59 


IV 

GAZKL 

Haqqa.  bu  dur  ki  sahn-i  ////aw  kim  qonaq  digil 

TRUTH  this:  a  lasting  home  hath  yielded 
ne'er  earth's  spreading  plain  : 
Scarce  e'en  an  inn  where  may  the  caravan 

for  rest  remain. 
Though  every  leaf  of  every  tree  is  verily 

a  book, 
For  those  who  understanding  lack  doth  earth 

no  leaf  contain. 
E'en  though  the  Loved  One  be  from  thee 

as  far  as  East  from  West, 
"Bagdad  to  lovers  is  not  far,w  O  heart, 

then  strive  and  strain. 
One  moment  opened  were  her  ebriate, 

strife-causing  eyne, 
By  us  as  scimitars,   not  merely  daggers, 

were  they  ta'en. 
Yearneth  Nejat/  for  the  court  of 

thy  fair  Paradise, 
Though  this  a  wish  which  he  whilst  here 

on  earth  can  ne'er  attain. 


60  OTTOMAN   POEMS 


€6 


Ey  destm&l  gundcrin   ol  nig&ra,  chiq 

O   HANDKERCHIEF  !   I  send  thce  —  off  to 
yonder  maid  of  grace  ; 
Around  thee  I  my  eyelashes  will  make 

the  fringe  of  lace  ; 
I  will  the  black  point  of  my  eye  rub  up 

to  paint  therewith  ;  67 

To  yon  coquettish  beauty  go  —  go  look  thou 
in  her  face. 

O  Handkerchief!   the  loved  one's  hand  take, 

kiss  her  lip  so  sweet, 
Her  chin,  which  mocks  at  apple  and  at  orange, 

kissing  greet  ; 
If  sudden  any  dust  should  light  upon 

her  blessed  heart, 
Fall  down  before  her,   kiss  her  sandal's  sole, 

beneath  her  feet. 

A  sample  of  my  tears  of  blood  thou, 

Handkerchief,  wilt  show, 
Through  these  within  a  moment  would  a 

thousand  crimson  grow  ; 
Thou'lt  be  in  company  with  her, 

while  I  am  sad  with  grief; 
To  me  no  longer  life  may  be, 

if  things  continue  so. 


MES/H7 
9i8  [1512] 

I 

From  His  Spring  Qasz'da68 
Kht&b-i  gafletdeti   uyanmaga   'uyun-i  ez/i&r 

Up  FROM  indolent  sleep  the  eyes  of  the 
flowers  to  awake, 

Over  their  faces  each  dawn  the  cloudlets 

of  spring  water  shake. 
Denizens  all  of  the  mead  now  with  new 

life  are  so  filled, 
That  were  its  foot  not  secured,  into  dancing 

the  cypress  would  break. 
Roses'  fair  cheeks  to  describe,  all  of  their 

beauty  to  tell, 
Lines  on  the  clear  river's  page  rain-drops  and 

light  ripples  make. 
Silvery  rings,  thou  would' st  say,  they  hung 

in  the  bright  water's  ear, 
When  the  fresh  rain-drops  of  spring  fall  on  the 

stretch  of  the  lake. 
Since  the  ring-dove,  who  aloft  sits  on  the 

cypress,  its  praise 
Sings,  were  it  strange  if  he  be  sad  and 

love-sick  for  its  sake? 

***** 
Prince  of  the  Climate  of   Speech, 

noble  Nishanji  Pasha, 
To  the  mark  of  whose  kindness  the  shaft 

of  thought  can  its  way  never  make. 
When  poets  into  their  hands  the  chaplet, 

thy  verses,  have  ta'en, 
<(  I  pardon   implore  of  the  Lord*  for 

litany  ever  they  take. 

(61) 


62  OTTOMAN   POEMS 

II 

MUREBBA'69 
Dinle  bulbul  qissasin  kim  geldi  eyy&m-i  bahz.r 

HARK  the  bulbul's  lay  so  joyous:   (<  Now  have 
come  the  days  of  spring.® 
Merry  shows  and  crowds  on  every  mead  they  spread, 

a  maze  of  spring;70 
There  the  almond-tree  its  silvern  blossoms  scatters, 

sprays  of  spring  : 

Drink,  be  gay,  for  soon  will  vanish,  biding  not, 
the  days  of  spring. 

Once  again  with  varied  flow'rets  decked  themselves 

have  mead  and  plain ; 
Tents  for  pleasure  have  the  blossoms  raised  in 

every  rosy  lane. 
Who  can  tell,  when  spring  hath  ended,  who 

and  what  may  whole  remain? 
Drink,  be  gay,  for  soon  will  vanish,  biding  not, 
the  days  of  spring. 

All  the  alleys  of  the  parterre  filled  with 

Ahmed's  Light  appear,71 
Verdant  herbs  his  Comrades,  tulips  like  his 

Family  bright  appear ; 
O  ye  People  of  Muhammed!   times 

now  of  delight  appear : 
Drink,  be  gay,  for  soon  will  vanish, 
biding  not,  the  days  of  spring. 

Sparkling  dew-drops  stud  the  lily's  leaf  like 

sabre  broad  and   keen  ; 
Bent  on  merry  gipsy-party,  crowd  they 

all  the  flow'ry  green  ;72 
List  to  me,  if  thou  desirest,  these  beholding, 

joy  to  glean: 

Drink,  be  gay,  for  soon  will  vanish,  biding  not, 
the  days  of  spring. 


MES/H7  63 

Rose  and  tulip,   like  to  lovely  maidens'  cheeks, 

all  beauteous  show, 
Whilst  the  dew-drops,  like  the  jewels  in  their  ears, 

resplendent  glow ; 
Do  not  think,  thyself  beguiling,  things  will 

aye  continue  so: 

Drink,   be  gay,   for  soon  will  vanish,  biding  not, 
the  days  of  spring. 

Rose,  anemone,  and  tulip  —  these,  the  garden's 

fairest  flowers — 
'Midst  the  parterre  is  their  blood  shed  'neath  the 

lightning-darts  and  showers.73 
Art  thou  wise?  —  then  with  thy  comrades   dear 

enjoy  the  fleeting  hours  : 

Drink,  be  gay,  for  soon  will  vanish,  biding  not 
the  days  of  spring. 

Past  the  moments  when  with  sickness  were  the 

ailing  herbs   opprest, 
When  the  garden's  care,  the  rose-bud,  hid  its  sad 

head  in  its  breast  ;74 
Come  is  now  the  time  when  hill  and  rock  with 

tulips  dense  are  drest : 

Drink,  be  gay,  for  soon  will  vanish,  biding  not, 
the  days  of  spring. 

Whilst  each  dawn  the  clouds  are  shedding 

jewels  o'er  the  rosy  land, 
And  the  breath  of  morning's  zephyr    fraught  with 

Tatar  musk  is  bland ; 
Whilst  the  world's  fair  time  is  present,  do  not 

thou  unheeding  stand  : 

Drink,  be  gay,   for  soon  will  vanish,  biding  not, 
the  days  of  spring. 

With  the  fragrance  of  the  garden,   so 

imbued  the  musky  air, 
Every  dew-drop,  ere  it  reaches  earth, 

is  turned  to  attar  rare ; 


64  OTTOMAN    POEMS 

O'er  the  parterre  spread  the  incense-clouds 

a  canopy  right  fair  ; 

Drink,  be  gay,  for  soon  will  vanish,  biding  not, 
the  days  of  spring. 

Whatsoe'er  the  garden  boasted  smote  the 

black  autumnal  blast ; 
But,  to  each  one  justice  bringing,   back  hath  come 

Earth's  King  at  last ; 
In  his  reign  joyed  the  cup-bearer,  round  the 

call  for  wine  is  past  : 

Drink,  be  gay,  for  soon  will  vanish,   biding  not, 
the  days  of  spring. 

Ah!  I  fondly  hope,  Meszhz,  fame  may  to 

these  quatrains  cling ; 
May  the  worthy  these  four-eyebrowed  beauties 

oft  to  mem'ry  bring  ; — 75 
Stray  amongst  the  rosy  faces,   Bulbul, 

who  so  sweet  dost  sing  ;76 

Drink,  be  gay,  for  soon  will  vanish,  biding  not, 
the  days  of  spring. 


H  A  R  7M  7 

(PRINCE    QJDRQJJD) 
918    [1512] 
FRAGMENT 
Ta.f  u  qab&yi  terk  edif   '  uryan  olayin  bir  zema.in 

BOTH  crown  and  robe  forsake  shall  I,    I'll  roam 
by  these  imprest,  a   while ; 
'Midst    foreign    lands,   far  off  from    here,    I'll  dwell  a 

wayworn  guest,   a  while. 
O  minstrel  fair,  both  harp  and  lute's  sweet 

music  hushed  must  now  remain  ; 
Woe's  feast  is  spread,  ah!  there  the  flute:  —  my 

sighs  by  grief  opprest,  a  while. 
Sometimes  I'll  fall,  sometimes  I'll  rise,  sometimes 

I'll  laugh,  sometimes  I'll  weep, 
Blood  drinking  now,77  woe  tasting  then, 

distracted  sore  I'll  rest  a  while. 
5  (65) 


MIHR7 
920  [1514  ca] 

I 
GAZKL 

Kh,-a.bden  achdim  guzum  nz.-g&h   qaldirdim  serf 

ONCE  from  sleep  I  oped  my  eyes,  I  raised  my  head, 
when  full  in  sight 

There  before  me  stood  a  moon-faced  beauty,  lovely, 

shining,   bright. 
Thought  I :  <(  In  th'  ascendant's  now  my  star, 

or  I  my  fate  have  reached, 
For  within  my  chamber  sure  is  risen  Jupiter 

this  night. »  ™ 
Radiance  from  his  beauty  streaming  saw  I, 

though  to  outward  view 
(Whilst  himself  a  Muslim)  he  in  garb  of 

infidel  is  dight. 
Though  I  oped  my  eyes  or  closed  them, 

still  the  form  was  ever  there ; 
Thus  I  fancied  to  myself:   w  A  fairy  this  or 

angel  bright  ?  * 
Till  the  Resurrection  ne'er  shall  Mihrz  gain  the 

Stream  of  Life ; 
Yet  in  Night's  deep  gloom  Iskender  gleamed 

before  her  wond'ring  sight.79 
66 


MIHR7  6; 


II 

GAZEL 

Ben  umardim  ki  bana  yar-i  ive/&-d&r  olasin 

FAITHFUL  and  kind  a  friend  I  hoped  that 
thou  wouldst  prove  to  me; 
Who  would  have  thought  so  cruel  and  fierce  a 

tyrant  in  thee   to  see? 
Thou  who  the  newly-oped  rose  art  of  the 

Garden  of  Paradise, 
That  every  thorn  and  thistle  thou  lov'st  —  how 

can  it  fitting  be? 
I  curse  thee  not,  but  of  God  Most  High, 

Our  Lord,   I  make  this  prayer  — 
That  thou  may'st  love  a  pitiless  one  in  tyranny 

like  to  thee. 
In  such  a  plight  am  I  now,  alack  !  that  the 

curser  saith  to  his  foe: 

"  Be  thy  fortune  dark  and  thy  portion  black, 
even  as  those  of  Mihr/!  w 


SEL/M7 

(SULTAN   SEL/M     I.) 

926    [1520] 

GAZKL  so 

Leshker  ez  takht-i  Isfanbol  su-yi  Ir&n   fakhtem 

FROM  Istambol's  throne  a  mighty  host 
to  /ran  guided  I ;  81 
Sunken  deep  in  blood  of  shame  I  made 

the  Golden  Heads  to  lie.  82 
Glad  the  Slave,  my  resolution,  lord  of 

Egypt's  realm  became  :  8S 
Thus  I  raised  my  royal  banner  e'en  as  the 

Nine  Heavens  high.84 
From  the  kingdom  fair  of  'Iraq  to  Hijaz 

these  tidings  sped,85 
When  I  played  the  harp  of  Heavenly  Aid 

at  feast  of  victory. 
Through  my  sabre  Transoxania  drowned 

was  in  a  sea  of  blood  ; 
Emptied  I  of  kuhl  of  Isfahan  the 

adversary's  eye.86 
Flowed  adown  a  River  Amu 87  from  each 

foeman's  every  hair  — 
Rolled  the  sweat  of  terror's  fever  —  if 

I  happed  him  to  espy. 
Bishop-mated  was  the  King  of  India  by 

my  Queenly  troops,88 
When  I  played  the  Chess  of  empire 

on  the  Board  of  sov' reign ty. 
O  Selirm,   in  thy  name  was  struck  the 

coinage  of  the  world, 
When  in  crucible  of  Love  Divine, 

like  gold,  that  melted  I.89 
(68) 


MUHIBB7 
(SULTAN    SULEYM^N    I.) 

974  [^S66] 

I 

GAZEL 

Senin  derdin  bana  derm&na  benzer 

MY  PAIN  for  thee  balm  in  my  sight  resembles; 
Thy  face's  beam  the  clear  moonlight  resembles. 
Thy  black  hair  spread  across  thy  cheeks,  the  roses, 
O  Liege,  the  garden's  basil  quite  resembles. 
Beside  thy  lip  oped  wide  its  mouth,  the  rosebud  ; 
For  shame  it  blushed,  it  blood  outright  resembles. 
Thy  mouth,  a  casket  fair  of  pearls  and  rubies, 
Thy  teeth,  pearls,  thy  lip  coral  bright  resembles  : 
Their  diver  I,  each  morning  and  each  even  ; 
My  weeping,   Liege,  the  ocean's  might  resembles. 
Lest  he  seduce  thee,  this  my  dread  and  terror, 
That  rival  who  Iblz's  in  spite  resembles.90 
Around  the  taper  bright,  thy  cheek,  Muhibbz 
Turns,  and  the  moth  in  his  sad  plight  resembles.91 

(69) 


70  OTTOMAN   POEMS 


II 
GAZKL 

Ikhtiy^r-i  jaqr  eden   derg&h   u    eyw&n   istemez 

HE  WHO  poverty  electeth,  hall  and  fane 
desireth  not ; 

Than  the  food  of  woe  aught  other  bread 

to  gain  desireth  not. 
He  who,  king-like,  on  the  throne  of  blest 

contentment  sits  aloft, 
O'er  the  Seven  Climes  as  Sultan  high  to 

reign  desireth  not. 
He,  who  in  his  bosom  strikes  his  nails, 

and  opes  the  wound  afresh, 
On  the  garden  looks  not,  sight  of  rosy  lane 

desireth  not.»2 
He,  who  is  of  Love's  true  subjects, 

bideth  in  the  fair  one's  ward, 
Wand'ring  there  distracted,  mountain  lone  or 

plain  desireth  not. 
O  Muhibbz,  he  who  drinketh  from  the 

Loved  One's  hand  a  glass, 
E'en  from  Khizar's  hand  Life's  Water  bright 

to  drain  desireth  not.53 


933 

GAZEL 

(On    a    Damaskeened    Sword) 
Hiddet   -wuruna   t\gi   nig&rin   zeb&ne   dir 

AFLAME  that  Picture's93  sabre  in  its 
deadliness  of  blow ; 

Like  sparks  upon  its  face  the  marks  of 

damaskeening  glow. 
Is't  strange  that  by  thy  side  the  bird,  my  heart, 

should  rest  secure? 
Thy  sabre  damaskeened  to  it  doth  grain 

and  water  show! 
The  watered  scimitar  within  thy  grasp 

an  ocean  is, 
In  which  the  lines  and  marks  are  scattered 

pearls  unique,  I  trow. 
Thy  sword  a  sky,  its  stars  the  marks  of 

damaskeening  shine, 
My  heart's  blood  there  upon  its  face  like  break 

of  dawn  doth  glow. 
What  though  I  call  that  Picture's  brand  a 

branch  of  Judas-tree  ?  9* 
For  there  the  damask  marks  and  grains  like 

flowers  and  blossoms  blow. 
Figam's  verse  on  yonder  King  of  Beauty's 

empire's  sword 
Doth  like  unto  a  running  stream  of 

limpid  water  flow. 

(7D 


938 
I 

From  his  Munazarat-i  Shita  u  Bahar 

ON  AUTUMN 
Gel  ey  sfturide  dil  sevda.  demi  dir 

OSAD  heart,  come,   distraction's  hour  is  now  high, 
The  air's  cool,  'midst  the  fields  to  sit  the  time  nigh. 
The  Sun  hath  to  the  Balance,  Joseph-like  past, 
The  year's  Zuleykha  hath  her  gold  hoard  wide  cast.  96 
By  winds  bronzed,  like  the  sun,  the  quince's  face  glows; 
Its  Pleiads-clusters,  hanging  forth,   the  vine  shows. 
In  saffron  flow' rets  have  the  meads  themselves  dight ; 
The  trees,  all  scorched,  to  gold  have  turned,  and  shine  bright. 
The  gilded  leaves  in  showers  falling  to  earth  gleam ; 
With  gold-fish  96  filled  doth   glisten  brightly  each  stream. 
Ablaze  each  tree,  and  blent  are  all  in  one  glare, 
And  therefore  charged  with  glistening  fire  the  still  air. 
Amidst  the  yellow  foliage  perched  the  black  crows — 
As  tulip,  saffron-hued,  that  spotted  cup  shows. 
A  yellow-plumaged  bird,   now  every  tree  stands, 
Which  shakes  itself,   and  feathers  sheds  on  all  hands. 
Each  vine-leaf  paints  its  face,  bride-like,   with  gold  ink ;  97 
The  brook  doth  silver  anklets  round  the  vine  link.  98 
The  plane-tree  hath  its  hands,  "  with  hinna,  red  dyed,  10° 
And  stands  there  of  the  parterre's  court  the  fair  bride. 
The  erst  green  tree  now  like  the  starry  sky  shows, 
And  hurling  meteors  at  the  fiend,  Earth,  stones  throws. 101 
(72) 


L^MI'I  73 


II 

From  the  Same 
ON  SPRING 

Zevq  u  sevq  u  h&letinden  bu  demin 

the  pleasure,  joy,  and  rapture  of  this  hour, 
In  its  frame  to  hold  its  soul  earth  scarce  hath  power. 
Rent  its  collar,   like  the  dawning,   hath  the  rose; 
From  its  heart  the  nightingale    sighs  forth  its  woes. 
Dance  the  juniper  and  cypress  like  the  sphere; 
Filled  with  melody  through  joy  all  lands  appear. 
Gently  sing  the  running  brooks  in  murmurs  soft ; 
While  the  birds  with  tuneful  voices  soar  aloft. 
Play  the  green  and  tender  branches  with  delight, 
And  they  shed  with  one  accord  gold,   silver,  bright.102 
Like  to  couriers  fleet,  the  zephyrs  speed  away, 
Resting  ne'er  a  moment   either  night  or  day. 
In  that  raid  the  rosebud  filled  with  gold  its  hoard, 
And  the  tulip  with  fresh  musk  its  casket  stored. 
There  the  moon  a  purse  of  silver  coin  did  seize; 
Filled  with  ambergris  its  skirt  the  morning  breeze; 
Won  the  sun  a  golden  disc  of  ruby  dye, 
And  with  glistening  pearls  its  pocket  filled  the  sky  : 
Those  who  poor  were  fruit  and  foliage  attained; 
All  the  people  of  the  land  some  trophy  gained. 


74  OTTOMAN   POEMS 

III 

From  the  Same 
Gel  ey  dil  nale  qil  bulbuller  ila 

O   HEART,  come,   wail,  as  nightingale  thy  woes  show; 
'Tis  Pleasure's  moment  this,  come,  then,  as  rose  blow. 
In  burning  notes  make  thou  thy  tuneful  song  rise; 
These  iron  hearts  soft  render  with  thy  sad  sighs. 
Within  thy  soul  place  not,   like  tulip,   dark  brand;61 
When  opportunity  doth  come,   then  firm  stand. 
From  earth  take  justice  ere  yet  are  these  times  left, 
And  ere  yet  from  the  soul's  harp  is  breath's  song  reft. 
They  call  thee  —  view  the  joys  that  sense  would  yield  thee; 
But,  ere  thou  canst  say  <(Hie!w  the  bird  is  flown,  see. 
Give  ear,  rose-like,   because  in  truth  the  night-bird 
From  break  of  dawn  its  bitter  wail  hath  made  heard. 
Their  chorus  all  around  the  gleeful  birds  raise; 
The  streamlets  sing,   the  nightingale  the  flute  plays. 
The  jasmines  with  their  fresh  leaves  tambourines  ply; 
The  streams,  hard  prest,   raise  up  their  glistening  foam  high 
Of  junipers  and  cypresses  two  ranks  'tween, 
The  zephyr  sports  and  dances  o'er  the  flower-green. 
The  streamlets  'midst  the  vineyard  hide-and-seek  play 
The  flowerets  with,   among  the  verdant  leaves  gay. 
Away  the  morning's  breeze  the   Jasmine's  crown  tears, 
As  pearls  most  costly  scatters  it  the  plucked  hairs. 
The  leader  of  the  play's  the  breeze  of  swift  pace  ; 
Like  children,  each  the  other  all  the  flowers  chase. 
With  green  leaves  drest,   the  trees  each  other's  hands   take; 
The  flowers  and  nightingales  each  other's  robes  shake. 
Like  pigeon,  there,   before  the  gale  that  soft  blows, 
Doth  turn  in  many  a  somersault  the  young  rose.103 
As  blaze  up  with  gay  flowerets  all  the  red  plains, 
The  wind  each  passes,   and  the  vineyard  next  gains. 
The  clouds,   pearl-raining,   from  the  meteors  sparks  seize ; 
And  flowers  are  all  around  strewn  by  the  dawn-breeze. 


L^MI'I  75 

The  waters,  eddying,  in  circles  bright  play, 

Like  shining  swords,  the  green  leaves  toss  about  they.104 

With  bated  breath  the  Judas-trees  there  stand  by ; 

And  each  for  other  running  brook  and  breeze  sigh. 

The  gales  tig  with  the  basil  play  in  high  glee ; 

To  dance  with  cypress  gives  its  hand  the  plane-tree.9 

The  soft  winds  have  adorned  the  wanton  bough  fair, 

The  leader  of  the  frolics 10B  'midst  the  parterre, 

The  narcisse  toward  the  almond-tree  its  glance  throws; 

With  vineyard-love  the  pink  upbraids  the  dog-rose. 

The  water's  mirror  clear  doth  as  the  Sphere  gleam; 

Its  stars,  the  flowers  reflected,   fair  and  bright  beam. 

The  meads  are    skies;  their    stars,  the  drops  of  dew,  glow; 

The  jasmine  is  the  moon ;  the  stream,  the  halo. 

In  short,  each  spot  as  Resurrection-plain  seems; 

None  who  beholds  of  everlasting  pain  dreams. 

Those  who  it  view,  and  ponder  well  with  thought's  eye, 

Is't  strange,   if  they  be  mazed  and  wildered  thereby? 

Up!  breeze-like,   Lami'/,  thy  hermitage  leave! 

The  roses'  days  in  sooth  no  time  for  fasts  give! 


KEM^4L    PASHA-Z^DA 

941   [J534] 

From  His  Elegy  on  Sultan  Selzm  I.  10« 
'Azmda  nev-/uwa.n,  hazmda  fir 

HE,  AN  old  man  in  prudence,  a  youth  in  might ; 
His  sword  aye  triumphant,   his  word  ever  right. 
Like  Asef  in  wisdom,  the  pride  of  his  host ; 107 
He  needed  no  vez/r,   no  mushzr  in  fight. 
His  hand  was  a  sabre ;  a  dagger,  his  tongue ; 
His  finger,  an  arrow ;  his  arm,  a  spear  bright. 
In  shortest  of  time  many  high  deeds  he  wrought  ; 
Encircle  the  world  did  the  shade  of  his  might. 
The  Sun  of  his  Day,   but  the  sun  at  day's  close, 
Throwing  long  shadow,  but  brief  while  in  sight.108 
Of  throne  and  of   diadem  sovereigns  boast, 
But  boasted  of  him  throne  and  diadem  bright. 
Delight  would  his  heart  in  that  festival  find, 
Whither  doth  sabre's  and  fife's  clang  invite. 
In  feats  with  the  sword,   eke  at  feasts  at  the  board,109 
On  his  peer  ne'er  alight  did  the  aged  Sphere's  sight ; 
Sped  he  to  the  board's  feast  —  a  Sun  beaming  bright! 
Swept  he  to  the  sword's  field  —  a  Lion  of  fight! 
Whenever  the  war-cries  :  Seize  !   Hold  !  echo  far, 
The  sword,  weeping  blood,  shall  that  Lion's  fame  cite. 
Alas !   Sultan  Seh'm  !  alas !   woe  is  me  ! 
Let  both  Pen  and  Sabre  in  tears  mourn  for  thee ! 
(76) 


GAZALS 

94 1   l>534] 
I 

QjT'A 

From  his  Elegy  on  Iskender  Chelebi 
Mir  Iskender  i'tib&ri  gurup 

HIGH  honored  once  was  the  noble  Iskender ; 
O  heart,  from  his  destiny  warning  obtain. 
Ah !   do  thou  see  what  at  length  hath  befall'n  him  ! 
What  all  this  glory  and  panoply  gain ! 
Drinking  the  poison  of  doom,   ne'er  a  remnant 
Of  sweetness's  taste  in  his  mouth  did  remain. 
Retrograde,   sank  down  his  star,  erst  ascendant, 
From  perfect  conjunction,   alas,   did  it  wane.111 
Dust  on  the  face  of  his  honor  aye  stainless 
Strewn  hath  the  blast  of  betrayal  profane.112 
The  Lofty  Decree  for  his  high  exaltation 
Did  Equity's  Court,  all  unlocked  for,  ordain  ; 
Forthwith  to  the  Regions  of  Eden  they  bore  him, 
They  raised  him  from    earth's    abject    baseness    and    stain. 
Circling  and  soaring,113  he  went  on  his  journey, 
From  the  land  of  his  exile  to  Home  back  again. 
Neck-bounden  he  stood  as  a   slave  at  the  palace, 
Freed  is  he  now  from  affliction's  hard  chain. 
Joyous  he  flew  on  his  journey  to  Heaven, 
Rescued  for  ever  from  earth  gross  and  vain. 
In  life  or  in  death  from  him  never,   ay,  never 
Was  honor  most  lofty,  most  glorious  ta'en ! 

(77) 


78  OTTOMAN   POEMS 


II 
FRAGMENT 

Erdi  khiz&ni  'umrumun  veh  ki  dakhi  garari  yog 

COME  is  the  autumn  of  my  life,  alas,  it  thus 
should  pass  away! 
I  have  not  reached  the  dawn  of  joy,  to  sorrow's 

night  there  is  no  day. 
Time  after  time  the  image  of  her  cheek  falls  on 

my  tear-filled  eye ; 
Ah !   no  pretension  to  esteem  can  shadows  in  the 

water  lay ! 
Oh!   whither  will  these  winds  of  Fate  impel 

the  frail  barque  of  the  heart? 
Nor  bound  nor  shore  confining  girds  Time's 
dreary  ocean  of  dismay !  114 


ISH^Q,    CHELEBI 

944 
GAZEL 

Gamdan   uldum,   ey  meh-i  na.-mihrba.nim,  qanda  sen? 

DEAD  am  I  of  grief,  my  Moon  no  love  who  shows, 
ah!   where  art  thou? 
Reach  the  skies,  the   plaints  and  wails  born  of 

my  woes,  ah  !   where  art  thou? 
Save  within  thy  rosy  bower  rests  not  the 

nightingale,  the  heart ; 
Figure  fair  as  waving  cypress,   face  as  rose,  ah  ! 

where  art  thou? 
Through  thy  lips  the  rose  drops  sugar  at  the 

feast  of  heart  and  soul ; 
Where,  my  Parrot  whose  sweet  voice  doth  love 

disclose,  ah  !   where  art  thou  ?  115 
Though  with  longing  dead  were  Ishaq,  live  should  he, 

did  once  she  say  : 

w  O  my  poor  one,   wildered,   weary,  torn    by  woes,  ah ! 
where  art  thou?M 

(79) 


ZATI 

953  0546] 
GAZEL 

On  the  Prophet  Muhammed 
3>a.metin  ey  bustan-i  £a-Mekan  Pirayesif 

THAT  thy  form,   O  Beauty  of  His  orchard  who 
doth  all   pervade! 
Is  a  cypress,   wrought  of  light,  that  casteth  on 

earth's  face  no  shade.116 
Though  the  gazers  on  the  loveliness  of  Joseph  cut 

their  hands,1" 
Cleft  in  twain  the  fair  moon's  palm,   when  in  thy 

day-bright  face  surveyed.118 
To  the  mart  of  the  Hereafter,   when  a  man  hath  passed, 

he  gains 
Through  the  money  bright,   thy  love,   which  is  of 

joy  the  stock-in-trade. 
This  my  hope,  that  yonder  Cypress  in  the  bowers 

of  Paradise 
Shelter  Zatz,  and  all  true  believers,   'neath 

his  blissful  shade. 
(80) 


LUTF7 

(GRAND   VEZ/R) 

957    [I55°] 

GAZEL 
Firqatindan  chiqdi  /a»,  ey  verd-i  kkandanim,  meded! 

THROUGH  thine  absence,  smiling  Rosebud, 
forth  my  soul  doth  go,  alas! 
Earth  is  flooded  by  the   tears  down  from  my 

eyes  that  flow,  alas! 
Should'st  thou  ask  about  my  days,   without  thee 

they're  black  as  thy  hair ; 
'Midst  of  darkness,   O  my  Stream  of  Life, 

I'm  lying  low,  alas!53 
With  the  stones  of  slander  stone  me  all  the 

cruel  rival  throng ; 
O  my  Liege,   my  Queen,    'tis  time  now  mercy 

thou  should'st  show,  alas ! 
When    I    die    through    longing    for    thee,  and  thou 

passest  o'er  my  breast, 
From  my  dust  thou 'It  hear  full  many  bitter 

sighs  of  woe,  alas! 
In  his  loved  one's  cause  will  Lutfz  surely  die 

the  martyr's  death; 
Let  her  brigand  eyes  from  mulct  for  blood 

of  mine  free  go,  alas! 
6  (8D 


MUKHLIS/ 
(PRINCE   MUSTAFA) 

960   t^S2! 
GAZEL 

Rif'at  istersen  eger  mihr-i  ;YAa»-ara    gibi 

JF  'TIS  state  thou  seekest  like  the   world-adorning 

sun's  array, 
Lowly  e'en  as  water  rub  thy  face  in  earth's 

dust  every  day. 
Fair  to  see,  but  short  enduring  is  this  picture  bright, 

the  world; 
'Tis  a  proverb:  Fleeting  like  the  realm  of 

dreams  is  earth's  display. 
Through  the  needle  of  its  eyelash  never  hath  the 

heart's  thread   past  ; 
Like  unto  the  Lord  Messiah  bide  I  half-road 

on  the  way.119 
Athlete  of  the  Universe  through  self-reliance 

grows  the  Heart, 
With  the  ball,  the  Sphere  — Time,  Fortune  — like 

an  apple  doth  it  play. 
Mukhlisf,  thy  frame  was  formed  from  but  one  drop,120 

yet,  wonder  great! 
When  thou  verses  sing'st,  thy  spirit  like  the 

ocean  swells,  they  say. 
(82) 


964  ['556] 
GAZEL 

Bir  ebed  milkina  fanim  hem-ji-w&r  etmek,  nije? 

ONE  with  Realms  Eternal  this  my  soul  to  make ; 
what  wouldest  say? 

All  Creation's  empire's  fancies  to  forsake; 

what  wouldest  say? 
Wearing  to  a  hair  my  frame  with  bitter 

sighs  and  moans,  in  love, 
Nestling  in  the  Fair  One's  tresses,  rest  to  take; 

what  wouldest  say  ? 
Yonder  gold-faced  birds  within  the 

quick  silver-resplendent  deep  ; 121 
Launching  forth  the  hawk,  my  striving, 

these  to  take ;   what  wouldest  say  ? 
Yonder  Nine   Smaragdine  Bowls122  of  Heaven84 

to  quaff  at  one  deep  draught, 
Yet  from  all  ebriety's  fumes  free  to  break; 

what  wouldest  say? 
To  an  autumn  leaf  the  Sphere   hath  turned 

Khiyalz's  countenance ; 
To  the  Spring  of  Beauty,  that  a  gift  to  make; 

what  wouldest  say? 

(83) 


SH.4H7 

(PRINCE   B^4YEZ/D) 
969    [1561] 

GAZEL!" 

Ben  nije  za.yi'  edem  tul-i  emella  nefesi? 

WITH  longing  fond  and  vain,  why  should  I  make 
my  soul  to  mourn? 
One  trace  of  love  of  earth  holds  not  my 

heart  —  all  is  forsworn. 
There  ready  stands  the  caravan,  to  Death's  dim 

realms  addrest, 
E'en  now  the  tinkling  of  its  bells  down  on  my  ears 

is  borne.12* 
Come  then,  O  bird,  my  soul,  be  still,  disquiet 

leave  far  off; 
See,  how  this  cage,  the  body,  is  with  years 

and  suffering  worn. 
But  yet,  to  weary,  wasted,  sin-stained  Shah/, 

what  of  fear? 
Since  Thou'rt  the  God  of  Love,  the  helping 

Friend  of  those  forlorn! 
(84) 


FUZC/L7 
970  [1562] 

I 
GAZEL 

Saba,  lutf  etdin,  ehl-i  derda  dermanden  khaber  verdin 

O  BREEZE,  thou'rt  kind,  of  balm  to  those  whom  pangs 
affright,  thou  news  hast  brought, 

To  wounded  frame  of  life,  to  life  of  life's  delight  thou 

news  hast  brought. 
Thou'st  seen  the  mourning  nightingale's  despair  in 

sorrow's  autumn    drear, 
Like  springtide  days,  of  smiling  roseleaf  fresh  and  bright, 

thou  news  hast  brought. 
If  I  should  say  thy  words  are  heaven-inspired,  in  truth, 

blaspheme  I  not ; 
Of  Faith,  whilst  unbelief  doth  earth  hold  fast  and  tight, 

thou  news  hast  brought. 
They  say  the  loved  one  comes  to  soothe  the  hearts  of 

all  her  lovers  true; 
If  that  the  case,  to  yon  fair  maid  of  lovers'  plight 

thou  news  hast  brought. 
Of  rebel  demon  thou  hast  cut  the  hope  Suleyman's 

throne  to  gain; 
That  in  the  sea   secure  doth  lie  his  Ring  of  might, 

thou  news  hast  brought.125 
Fuzwlz,  through  the  parting  night,  alas,  how 

dark  my  fortune  grew  ! 
Like  zephyr  of  the  dawn,  of  shining  sun's  fair  light 

thou  news  hast  brought. 

(85) 


86  OTTOMAN   POEMS 

II 
GAZBL 

Ey  wujud-i  ka.milin    esr&r-i  hikmet  masdari 

OTHOU  Perfect  Being,  Source  whence  wisdom's 
mysteries  arise ; 

Things,  the  issue  of  Thine  essence,  show  wherein 

Thy  nature  lies. 
Manifester  of  all  wisdom,  Thou  are  He  whose 

pen  of  might 
Hath  with  rays  of  stars  illumined  yonder  gleaming 

page,  the  skies. 
That  a  happy  star,  indeed,  the  essence  clear  of 

whose  bright  self 
Truly  knoweth  how  the  blessings  from  Thy 

word  that  flow  to  prize. 
But  a  jewel  flawed  am  faulty  I :  alas, 

for  ever  stands 
Blank  the  page  of  my  heart's  journal  from  thought 

of  Thy  writing  wise. 
In  the  journal  of  my  actions  Evil's  lines  are 

black  indeed ; 
When  I  think  of  Day  of  Gathering's  terrors, 

blood  flows  from  my  eyes. 
Gathering  of  my  tears  will  form  a  torrent  on 

the  Reckoning  Day, 
If  the  pearls,  my  tears,   rejecting,  He  but 

view  them  to  despise  : 
Pearls  my  tears  are,   O  Yuzuli,  from  the  ocean 

deep  of  love ; 
But  they're  pearls  these,  oh!  most  surely, 

that  the  Love  of  Allah  buys! 


FUZZ7L7  87 

III 
GAZKL 

Nola  reshk-i  rukhs?irinla  bagri  kh\iblerin  qan  dir? 

IS'T  strange  if  beauties'  hearts  turn  blood  through 
envy  of  thy  cheek  most  fair?126 
For  that  which  stone  to  ruby  turns  is  but  the 

radiant  sunlight's  glare.127 
Or  strange  is't  if  thine  eyelash  conquer  all  the 

stony-hearted  ones? 
For  meet  an  ebon  shaft  like  that  a  barb  of 

adamant  should  bear ! 
Thy  cheek's  sun-love128  hath  on  the  hard,  hard  hearts 

of  fairy  beauties  fall'n, 
And  many  a  steely-eyed  one  hath  received  thy 

bright  reflection  fair. 129 
The  casket,  thy  sweet  mouth,  doth  hold  spell-bound 

the  huri-f aced  ones  all ; 
The  virtue  of  Suleyman's  Ring  was  that  fays 

thereto  fealty  sware.  13° 
Is't  strange  if,   seeing  thee,   they  rub  their  faces 

lowly  midst  the  dust? 
That  down  to  Adam  bowed  the  angel  throng  doth 

the  Qur'an  declare ! 131 
On  many  and  many  a  heart  of  stone  have  fall'n  the 

pangs  of  love  for  thee  ! 
A  fire  that  lies  in  stone  concealed  is  thy  heart-burning 

love's  dread  glare ! 
Within  her  ward,   with  garments  rent,  on  all  sides 

rosy-cheeked  ones  stray ; 
Fuzalz,  through  those  radiant  hues,  that 

quarter  beams  a  garden  fair. 


88  OTTOMAN   POEMS 


IV 
GAZEL 

im  buldu  devr&n-i  felekden  inqifab 

FROM  the  turning  of  the  Sphere  my  luck  hath  seen 
reverse  and  woe  ;114 

Blood  I've  drunk,77  for  from  my   banquet  wine  arose 

and  forth  did  go. 
With  the  flame,  my  burning  sighs,   I've  lit  the 

wand'ring  wildered  heart  ; 
I'm  a  fire,  doth  not  all  that  which  turns  about 

me  roasted  glow? 
With  thy  rubies  wine  contended  —  oh!   how  it  hath 

lost  its  wits! 
Need  'tis  yon  ill-mannered  wretch's  company 

that  we  forego. 
Yonder  Moon  saw  not  my  burning's  flame  upon 

the  parting  day  — 
How  can  e'er  the  sun  about  the  taper  all 

night  burning  know  ?  132 
Every  eye  that  all  around  tears  scatters, 

thinking  of  thy  shaft, 
Is  an  oyster-shell  that  causeth  rain-drops 

into  pearls  to   grow.133 
Forms  my  sighing's  smoke  134  a  cloud  that  veils 

the  bright  cheek  of  the  moon  ; 
Ah  !  that  yon  fair  Moon  will  ne'er  the  veil 

from  off  her  beauty  throw  ! 
Ne'er  hath  ceased  the  rival  e'en  within  her 

ward  to  vex  me  sore  ; 
How  say  they,  Fuz«lz  :   (<  There's  in  Paradise 

nor  grief  nor  woe  ?  w  13B 


FUZC/L/  89 

V 

MUSEDDES  136 
Dun  s&ye  saldi  bashima  bir  serv-i  ser-bulend 

A   STATELY  Cypress  yesterday  her  shade 
threw  o'er  my  head ; 
Her  form  was  heart-ensnaring,  heart-delighting 

her  light  tread ; 
When  speaking,   sudden  opened  she  her  smiling 

rubies  red, 
There  a  pistachio  I  beheld  that  drops  of 

candy  shed.137 
*  This  casket  13°  can  it  be  a  mouth  ?  Ah !  deign !  w 

I  said :   said  she  : 

<(  Nay,  nay,   'tis  balm  to  cure  thy  hidden   smart ; 
aye,  truly  thine  !  w 

Down  o'er  her  crescents  she  had  pressed  the 

turban  she  did  wear,138 
By  which,   from  many  broken  hearts, 

sighs  raised  she  of  despair; 
She  loosed  her  tresses  —  hid  within  the  cloud 

her  moon  so  fair,139 
And  o'er  her  visage  I  beheld  the  curls  of  her 

black  hair. 
<(  Those  curling  locks,   say,  are  they  then  a  chain  ?  )J 

I  said ;   said  she  : 

<(  That    round    my   cheek,    a    noose    to    take    thy    heart  ; 
aye,  truly  thine !  ® 

The  taper  bright,   her  cheek,  illumined  day's 

lamp  in  the  sky ; 
The  rose's  branch  was  bent  before  her  figure, 

cypress-high  ; 
She,   cypress-like,  her  foot  set   down  upon 

the  fount,  my  eye, 
But  many  a  thorn  did  pierce  her  foot, 

she  suffered  pain  thereby.140 


90  OTTOMAN   POEMS 

"What  thorn  unto  the  roseleaf-foot  gives  pain?" 

I  said  ;   said  she  : 
*The  lash  of  thy  wet  eye  doth  it  impart; 

aye,  truly  thine !  " 

Promenading,  to  the  garden  did  that  jasmine-cheeked 

one  go  ; 
With  many  a  bright  adornment  in  the  early 

springtide's  glow; 
The  hyacinths  their  musky  locks  did  o'er  the 

roses  throw ; 141 
That  Picture*3  had  tattooed  her  lovely  feet 

rose-red  to  show.142 
(<  The  tulip's  hue  whence  doth  the   dog-rose 

gain?)>143  I  said;  said  she: 

(<  From  blood  of  thine  shed  'neath  my  glance's  dart ; 
aye,  truly  thine  !  * 

To  earth  within  her  ward  my  tears  in  torrents 

rolled  apace ; 
The  accents  of  her  ruby  lip  my  soul  crazed 

by  their  grace  ; 
My  heart  was  taken  in  the  snare  her  musky 

locks  did  trace, 
That  very  moment  when  my  eyes  fell  on 

her  curls  and  face. 
<(  Doth  Scorpio  the  bright  Moon's  House 

contain  ?  >J  144  I  said  ;  said  she  : 
<(  Fear !   threatening  this  Conjunction  dread, 
thy  part ;  aye,  truly  thine !  " 

Her  hair  with  ambergris  perfumed  was  waving  o'er 

her  cheek, 
On  many  grieving,   passioned  souls  it  cruel 

woe    did  wreak ; 
Her  graceful  form  and  many  charms  my  wildered 

heart  made  weak ; 
The  eye  beheld  her  figure  fair,  then  heart  and 

soul  did  seek. 


FUZZ7L7 

(<  Ah !    what  bright  thing  this  cypress  of  the  plain  ?  " 

I  said  ;  said  she  : 
<(  'Tis  that  which  thy  fixed  gaze  beholds  apart ; 

aye,  truly  thine  !  * 

When  their  veil  her  tulip  and  dog-rose  had  let 

down  yesterday,145 
The  morning  breeze  tore  off  that  screen  which  o'er 

these  flow'rets  lay  ; 
Came  forth  that  Envy  of  the  sun  in  garden 

fair  to  stray, 
Like  lustrous  pearls  the  dew-drops  shone, 

a  bright  and  glistening  spray. 
<(  Pearls,  say,  are  these,  aye  pearls  from  'Aden's 

main  ?  M  146  I  said  ;  said  she  : 
(<  Tears,  these,  of  poor  Fuzalz,  sad  of  heart ; 
aye,  truly  thine !  M 


92  OTTOMAN   POEMS 

VI 

MUKHAMMBS 
Ey  karir  ichre  tenin  mvtlaq  bilur  ichre 

ATTAR  within  vase  of  crystal,   such  thy  fair  form 
silken-gowned  ; 
And  thy  breast  is  gleaming  water,  where  the 

bubbles  clear  abound  ; 147 
Thou  so  bright  none  who  may  gaze  upon  thee  on  the 

earth  is  found  ; 
Bold  wert  thou  to  cast  the  veil  off,  standing  forth 

with  garland  crowned  : 

Not  a  doubt  but  woe  and  ruin  all  the  wide  world 
must  confound  ! 

Lures  the  heart  thy  gilded  palace,   points 

it  to  thy  lips  the  way  ; 
Eagerly  the  ear  doth  listen  for  the  words  thy 

rubies  say  ; 
Near  thy  hair  the  comb  remaineth,  I  despairing 

far  away ; 
Bites  the  comb,  each  curling  ringlet,   when  it 

through  thy  locks  doth  stray  : 148 
Jealous  at  its  sight,  my  heart's  thread  agonized 
goes  curling  round. 

Ah  !   her  face  the  rose,  her  shift  rose-hued, 

her  trousers  red  their  shade  ; 
With  its  flame  burns  us  the  fiery  garb  in  which 

thou  art  arrayed. 
Ne'er  was  born  of  Adam's  children  one  like  thee, 

O  cruel  maid ! 
Moon  and  Sun,  in  beauty's  circle,  at  thy 

fairness  stand  dismayed: 
Seems  it  thou  the  Sun  for  mother  and  the 
Moon  for  sire  hast  owned.149 


FUZZ7L7  93 

Captive  bound  in  thy  red  fillet,   grieve  I  through  thy 

musky  hair ; 
Prone  I  'neath  those  golden  anklets  which  thy 

silvern  limbs  do  wear  ;  15° 
Think  not  I  am  like  thy  fillet,  empty  of  thy 

grace,   O  fair! 
Rather  to  the  golden  chain,   which  hangs  thy 

cheek  round,  me  compare  : 151 

In  my  sad  heart  pangs  a  thousand  from  thy  glance's 
shafts  are  found. 

Eyes  with  antimony  darkened,  nands  with  hinna 

crimson  dyed ; 1B2 
Through  these  beauties  vain  and  wanton  like  to 

thee  was  ne'er  a  bride. 
Bows  of  poplar  green,  thy  painted  brows  ;  thy 

glances  shafts  provide.153 
Poor  Fuzuli  for  thine  eyes  and  eyebrows 

aye  hath  longing  cried  : 
That  the  bird  from  bow  and  arrow  flees 
not,  well  may  all  astound. 


94  OTTOMAN   POEMS 

VII 

From  his  Leylz  and  Mejnzm15* 

THE  GAZEL  OF  THE  MASTER 

y&n  verma  gam-i  'is/tqa  ki  'iskq  zfet-i  j&n  dir 

YIELD  not  the  soul    to  pang  of  Love,  for  Love's  the 
soul's  fierce  glow ; 

That  Love's  the  torment  of  the  soul  doth  all 

the  wide  world  know. 
Seek  not  for  gain  from  fancy  wild  of  pang  of 

Love  at  all ; 
For  all  that  comes  from  fancy  wild  of  Love's 

pang  is  grief's  throe. 
Each  curving  eyebrow  is  a  blood-stained 

sabre  thee  to  slay; 
Each  dusky  curl,  a  deadly  venomed  snake  to 

work  thee  woe. 
Lovely,  indeed,  the  forms  of  moon-like 

maidens  are  to  see  — 
Lovely  to  see,  but  ah!  the  end  doth  bitter 

anguish  show. 
From  this  I  know  full  well  that  torment  dire  in 

love  abides, 
That  all  who  lovers  are,  engrossed  with  sighs, 

rove  to  and  fro. 
Call  not  to  mind  the  pupils  of  the  black-eyed 

damsels  bright, 
With  thought :   <(  I'm  man,"  be  not  deceived, 

'tis  blood  they  drink,  I  trow.155 
E'en  if  Yuzuli  should  declare:   (<In  fair  ones  there 

is  troth ;  » 
Be  not  deceived:   <(  A  poet's  words  are  falsehoods 

all  men  know.)>156 


95 


VIII 

From  the  Same 

MEJNt/N    ADDRESSES    NEVFIL 
MejnM.n  dedi:  ((Ey  yeg&ne'-i  '•ahd'.^ 


QUOTH  Mejnwn  :   (<  O  sole  friend  of  true  plight  ! 
With  counsel  many  have  tried  me  to  guide  right  ; 
Many  with  wisdom  gifted  have  advice  shown, 
But  yet  this  fiend  hath  been  by  no  one  o'erthrown  ; 
Much  gold  has  on  the  earth  been  strewn  round, 
But  yet  this  Stone  of  Alchemist  by  none's  found.167 
Collyrium  I  know  that  doth  increase  light, 
What  use  though  is  it  if  the  eye  doth  lack  sight? 
I  know  that  greatest  kindliness  in  thee  lies, 
What  use,  though,  when  my  fate  doth  ever  dark  rise? 
Upon  my  gloomy  fortune  I  no  faith  lay, 
Impossible  my  hope  appeareth  alway. 
Ah  !   though  in  this  thou  shouldest  ever  hard  toil, 
The  end  at  length  will  surely  all  thy  plans  foil. 
No  kindliness  to  me  my  closest  friends  show  ; 
Who  is  a  friend  to  him  whom  he  doth  deem  foe? 
I  know  my  fortune  evil  is  and  woe-fraught  ; 
The  search  for  solace  is  to  me,  save  pain,  nought. 
There  is  a  gazel  that  doth  well  my  lot  show, 
Which  constant  I  repeat  where'er  my  steps  go. 


96  OTTOMAN   POEMS 

IX 

From  the  Same 

MEJNi/N'S    GAZEL 

Wefa.  her  kimseden  kirn  istedim  andan  jef&  gurdum 

FROM  whomsoe'er  I've  sought  for  troth  but  bitterest 
disdain  I've  seen  ; 
Whome'er  within  this  faithless  world  I've  trusted, 

all  most  vain   I've  seen 
To  whomsoe'er  I've  told  my  woes,  in  hope  to  find    some 

balm  therefor, 
Than  e'en  myself  o'erwhelmed  and  sunk  in  deeper, 

sadder  pain  I've  seen. 
From  out  mine  aching  heart  no  one  hath  driven 

cruel  grief  away, 
That  those  my  friends  of  pleasure's  hour  affection  did 

but  feign  I've  seen. 
Although  I've  clutched  its  mantle,  life  hath  turned 

away  its  face  from  me ; 
And  though  I  faith  from  mirror  hoped,  there  persecuted 

swain  I've  seen.158 
At  gate  of  hope  I  set  my  foot,  bewilderment  held 

forth  its  hand, 
Alas!   whene'er  hope's  thread  I've  seized,  in  hand  the 

serpent's  train  I've  seen. 
A  hundred  times  the  Sphere  hath  shown  to  me 

my  darksome  fortune's  star; 
Whene'er  my  horoscope  I've  cast,  but  blackest, 

deepest  stain  I've  seen. 
Fuzwh',  blush  not  then,  should  I  from 

mankind  turn  my  face  away  ; 
For  why?     From  all  to  whom  I've  looked,  but  reason 

sad  to   wail    I've  seen. 


FUZCfL/  97 

X 

From  the  Same 

ZEYD'S  VISION 

Her  lahza  qiliridi  ta.ze  matem 

His  grief  and  mourning  Zeyd  renewed  alway, 
From  bitter  wailing  ceased  he  not,  he  wept  aye. 

That  faithful,  loving,   ever-constant  friend  dear, 
One  night,   when  was  the  rise  of  the  True  Dawn  near,169 
Feeling  that  in  his  wasted  frame  no  strength  stayed, 
Had  gone,  and  down  upon  that  grave  himself  laid. 
There,  in  his  sleep,   he  saw  a  wondrous  fair  sight, 
A  lovely  garden,  and  two  beauties,   moon-bright ; 
Through  transport  rapturous,   their  cheeks  with  light  glow ; 
Far  distant  now,  all  fear  of  anguish,   pain,   woe ; 
With  happiness  and  ecstasy  and  joy  blest, 
From  rivals'   persecutions  these  have  found  rest ; 
A  thousand  angel-forms  to  each  fair  beauty, 
With  single  heart,   perform  the  servant's  duty. 
He,   wondering,   question    made :     w  What    Moons    so    bright 

these  ? 

What  lofty,  honored  Sovereigns  of  might  these? 
What  garden,  most  exalted,   is  this  parterre? 
What  throng  so  bright  and  beautiful,  the  throng  there?" 
They  answer  gave:  <(  Lo !   Eden's  shining  bowers  these; 
That  radiant  throng,  the  Heaven-born  Youths  and  H#rzs;160 
These  two  resplendent  forms,   bright  as  the  fair  moon, 
These  are  the  ever-faithful  —  Leylz,  Mejnwn! 
Since  pure  within  the  vale  of  love  they  sojourned, 
And  kept  that  purity  till  they  to  dust  turned, 
Are  Eden's  everlasting  bowers  their  home  now, 
To  them  the  Har/s  and  the  Youths  as  slaves  bow: 
Since  these,   while  on  the  earth,  all  woe  resigned  met, 
And  patience  aye  before  them  in  each  grief  set, 
When  forth  they  fled  from  this  false,  faithless  world's  bound, 
From  all  those  pangs  and  sorrows  they  release  found!" 
7 


FAZLI 

971 
From  his  Gul  u  Bulbul,  <(  Rose  and  Nightingale  >>161 

Ki  meger  ruzga.r-i  msuzida 

ONCE,  in  times  long  ago,  in  ages  of  eld, 
Over  bright  realms,  the  fairest  man  e'er  beheld, 
(These  in  Rome162  lay)  a  King  of  fame  ruled  in  state, 
Prosperous,  glad,  of  joy  and  fortune  innate; 
He,  a  King,  high  of  rank,  of  auspicious  part, 
Fair  of  face,  fair  of  nature,   and  fair  of  heart; 
All  his  actions  on  justice  sure  did  recline, 
All  his  beauty  and  spirit  perfect  did  shine ; 
Pure  of  mind,  debonair,  in  council  aright, 
Heart-rejoicing,  and  graceful,   the  soul  making  bright. 
He,  a  glorious,  stately,  most  noble  King, 
Thus  'twas  they  named  him,  all  his  subjects  :  —  King  Spring. 
Through  the  stream  of  his  justice  the  earth  blossomed  fair, 
Like  to  Eden  the  world  through  his  mercy's  air : 
With  benignity,   grace,  and  kindness  imbued, 
With  discretion  and  faultless  justice  endued: 
All  around  spread  his  sway  like  the  wind  that  blows, 
Everywhere  swept  his  law  like  the  flood  that  flows; 
Fair  his  equity  e'en  as  the  breeze  of  dawn, 
Making  earth's  face  a  verdant,  fresh-blooming  lawn. 
'Midst  of  his  blest  dominions  none  uttered  wail, 
Save  it  were  'mongst  the  flowers  the  sad  nightingale ; 
'Gainst  his  neighbor  did  no  one  the  dagger  bare, 
Save  the  fresh  blooming  lily  within  the  parterre  ;  163 
To  his  neighbor  did  no  one  anguish  impart, 
Saving  the  thorn  to  the  nightingale's  heart ; 164 
From  his  neighbor  did  no  one  the  diadem  seize, 
The  tulip's  crown  only  was  stol'n  by  the  breeze. 
(98; 


FAZLI  99 

Herbs,  in  mighty  array,  were  spread  o'er  the  ground, 

Forming  a  host  without  limit  or  bound  ; 

Leaves  and  fruits  did  these  bear  in  numbers  untold, 

Even  more  than  the  leaves  that  the  trees  unfold. 

'Midst  of  the  mead  narcissus-eyed  guards  did  stand, 

Sentries,  gold-uskufed,   a  numberless  band ;  165 

Tulip-like,  ruby-beakered  and  ruby-crowned, 

Many  cup-bearers  lovely  did  him  surround; 

Guards,  like  the  lily,  a  thousand  he  had, 

All  of  these  sabre-wearing  and  armor-clad; 

Like  the  cypress,  uprearing  proudly  the  head, 

Many  warriors  valiant  his  banners   spread ; 

Like  the  thorn,   sharp-featured,   wielding  the  dart, 

His  were  spearsmen  who'd  pierce  the  dread  lion's  heart; 

Many  couriers  his,  like  the  zephyr  in  speed, 

Like  the  crown-snatching  life  was  each  one  indeed. 

In  the  heaven  of  might,  a  Star  bright  he  beamed ; 

In  the  casket  of  state,  a  Gem  fair  he  gleamed. 

'Midst  his  life's  garden  only  one  rose  had  blown, 

One  divine  gift  to  him  from  God's  lofty  throne  ; 

Him  a  daughter  had  granted  the  mercy  divine, 

Who  in  earth's  garden,   like  the  rose,  fair  did  shine; 

Though  yet  but  a  rosebud,  her  name  was  Rose  — 

In  the  parterre  of  grace  a  rosebud  arose ! 

Many  rosebuds,  a  thousand  rosebuds  most  fair, 

Heart-contracted,  did  envy  her  mouth  in  despair ; 

Ne'er  a  rival  to  her  in  beauty  was  found, 

In  her  love  was  the  world  secure  captive  bound. 


975  [1567] 
GAZEL 

Fenn-i  'ishqa  bashladim,  diqqatla  gurdum    nije   b&b 

1   BEGAN  love's  art  to  study,  divers  chapters  did 
I  read ; 
Longing's  texts  and  parting's  sections  a  whole  book 

would  fill  indeed; 
Union  formed  a  short  abridgment,  but  the  pangs  of 

love  for  thee 
Have  their  commentaries  endless  made  each 

other  to  succeed. 
O  Nisham,  hath  the  master,  Love,  thus  truly 

taught  to  thee  :  — 
<(  This  a  question  hard  whose  answer  from  the  loved 

one  must  proceed  !  * 
(ioo) 


SEL/M7 
(SULTAN   SEL/M   II.) 

9^    [1574] 

I 
GAZEL 

Kh&lin  tie  zulfun  el  bir  cylemish 

HAND  in  hand  thy  mole  hath  plotted  with  thy  hair,166 
Many  hearts  made  captive  have  they  in  their  snare. 
Thou  in  nature  art  an  angel  whom  the  Lord 
In  His  might  the  human  form  hath  caused  to  wear. 
When  He  dealt  out   'mongst  His  creatures  union's  tray, 
Absence  from  thee,   God  to  me  gave  as  my  share. 
Thou  would'st  deem  that  Power,  the  limner,  for  thy  brows, 
O'er  the  lights,  thine  eyes,  two  nuns  had  painted  fair.167 
O  Seh'im,  on  the  sweetheart's  cheek  the  down 
Is  thy  sighs'  fume,134  which,  alas,  hath  rested  there. 

(101) 


102 


II 

GAZEL 

Leyli  zulfun  sihr-i  gamzan   laql  u  j'anim  aldilar 

TA'EN  my  sense  and  soul  have  those  thy  Leyh'  locks, 
thy  glance's  spell, 

Me,  their  Mejnan,   'midst  of  love's  wild  dreary 

desert  they  impel.15* 
Since  mine  eyes  have  seen  the  beauty  of  the 

Joseph  of  thy  grace, 
Sense  and  heart  have  fall'n  and  lingered  in  thy  chin's 

sweet  dimple- well.168 
Heart  and  soul  of  mine  are  broken  through  my 

passion  for  thy  lips ; 
From  the  hand  of  patience  struck  they  honor's  glass, 

to  earth  it  fell. 
The  mirage,  thy  lips,   O  sweetheart,  that  doth 

like  to  water  show; 
For,  through  longing,  making  thirsty,  vainly  they 

my  life  dispel. 
Since  Seh'rm  hath  the  pearls,  thy  teeth,   been  praising, 

sense  and  heart 
Have  his  head  and  soul  abandoned,  plunging  'neath 

love's  ocean-swell. 


SEL/M/  103 


III 
GAZEL 

Yuzunden  zulfun   sur,  keshf-i  hij&bet 

THY  veil  raise,  shake  from  cheeks  those  locks  of  thine  then; 
Unclouded  beauty's  sun  and  moon  bid  shine  then. 
But  one  glance  from  those  soft  and  drooping  eyes  throw, 
The  heart  through  joy  to  drunkenness  consign  then. 
Were  I  thy  lip  to  suck,   'twould  heal  the  sick  heart ; 
Be  kind,  an  answer  give,  Physician  mine,  then. 
Beware  lest  evil  glance  thy  beauty's  rose  smite. 
From  ill-eyed  rival  careful  it  confine  then. 
O  heart,  this  is  Life's  Water  'midst  of  darkness,53 
In  night's  gloom  hidden,   drink  the  ruby  wine  then.23 
My  love's  down  grows  upon  her  rosy-hued  cheek, 
A  book  write  on  the  woes  it  doth  enshrine  then.51 
Thy  wine-hued  lip,   O  love,  grant  to  Selzmz, — 
And  by  thy  parting's  shaft  my  tears  make  wine  then.169 


SHEMS7    PASHA 

988    [1580] 

GAZHL 

Raq\bin  kvi-yi  y&rinden  guz&ri  var,  benim  yoq  dar 

THE  rival  entry  free  hath  to  the  loved  one's  ward, 
but  none  have  I ; 
Regard    unto   the    very    dogs    they    there    accord,    but 

none  have  I. 
The  heart  doth  seize  the  Magian's245  hand;  the  cup-bearer, 

his  glass;  but  I  — 
For  gentle  love  they  grant  to  these  their  due 

reward,  but  none  have  I. 
To  gain  regard  I  would  complain  loud  as  the  dogs 

within  thy  ward, 
For  these  have  power  their  plight  to  show,  their  griefs 

record,  but  none  have  I. 
From  all  eternity  have  I  to  Mejnzm  taught  the 

pang  of  love,154 
How  then  do  all  the  folk  to  him  renown  award, 

but  none  have  I? 
To  God  be  praise  that  brightly  shines  the  mirror  of 

my  heart,  Shemsz, 
For  more  or  less  earth's  glass  with  dust  is  soiled  or  marred, 

but  none  have  I. 
(104) 


YAHYA   BEG 

99°  t'S82] 
I 

From  his  Shah  u  Geda,   <(King  and  Beggar* 
Su-weyle  ey  tuti-i  skirin-maga.1 

PARROT,  sweet  of  voice,  thy  song  now  raise !  115 
All  thy  words  purify  in  Love's  fierce  blaze ! 
Every  point  of  Love  as  whole  book  shows ; 
Every  mote  of  Love  as  bright  sun  glows. 
Drowned  in  one  drop  thereof  Time,   Space,  in  sooth; 
Lost  in  one  grain  thereof  Both  Worlds,  in  truth. 
Man  becomes  man  through  Love,   pure,  bright, 
Teacher  respected,  guide  of  the  right. 
Through  its  beams  everything  man  as  chief  owns, 
Rays  of  sun  into  rubies  turn  black  stones. 127 

***** 

He  who  a  Lover  is  on  God  relies; 

On,  on,  upward  still  doth  he  rise. 

One  day  he  secrets  all  shall  descry, 

Love  makes  the  soul  from  sleep  raise  the  eye ; 

Unto  him  all  things  shall  oped  be  and  shown, 

Off  e'en  the  curtain  from  God  shall  be  thrown. 

(105) 


(SULTAN   MURylD   III.) 
I003    [1595] 

GAZEL 
Lutf-i  Rakmana    istinadim    var 

YEA,  on  God's  favor  all  my  trust  I  place; 
Ah !   how  my  soul  desireth  His  dear  grace ! 
Since  with  the  Lord  I  have  my  heart  made  right, 
All  of  my  hope  upon  His  aid  I  base. 
I  upon  troops  and  treasures  no  faith  lay ; 
Nay,  to  the  Hosts  Unseen  I  leave  my  case.38 
Bravely  strive  on,  the  Holy  Warfare  fight ; 
Firm,   in  God's  cause  to  war,  I've  set  my  face. 
By  Him,  I  trust,  received  my  prayer  may  be ; 
For,  on  acceptance  I  my  whole  hope  place. 
(106) 


1008  [1600] 

I 

QJV/SDA" 

(In  Praise  of  Sultan  Suleyman  I.) 
Heng&m-i  sheb  ki  kungure'-i  cherkh-i  asman 

ONE  night  when  all  the  battlements  Heaven's 
castle  doth  display, 

Illumed  and  decked  were,   with  the  shining 

lamps,  the  stars'  array, 
Amidst  the  host  of  gleaming  stars  the  Moon  lit  up 

his   torch ;  8* 
Athwart  the  field  of  Heaven  with  radiance 

beamed  the  Milky  Way. 
The  Secretary  of  the  Spheres  had  ta'en  his 

meteor-pen, 
That  writer  of  His  signature  whom  men 

and  jinns  obey. 
There,  at  the  banquet  .of  the  sky,  had 

Venus  struck  her  lyre, 
In  mirth  and  happiness,  delighted, 

joyed  and  smiling  gay. 
Taking  the  keynote  for  her  tune  'neath  in 

the  vaulted  sphere, 
The  tambourinist  Sun  her  visage  bright 

had  hid  away.171 
Armed  with  a  brand  of  gleaming  gold  had  leapt 

into  the  plain 
The  Swordsman  of  the  sky's  expanse,  of 

heaven's  field  of  fray. 
To  give  direction  to  the  weighty  matters  of  the 

earth 

(107) 


io8  OTTOMAN   POEMS 

Had  Jupiter,  the  wise,  lit  up  reflection's 

taper's  ray. 
There  raised  aloft  old  Saturn  high  upon  the 

Seventh  Sphere 
Sitting  like  Indian  elephant-conductor  on 

did  stray. 172 
w  What  means  this  decking  of  the  universe  ? w 

I  wond'ring  said; 
When,  lo  !   with  meditation's  gaze  e'en  whilst  I 

it  survey, 
Casting  its  beams  on  every  side,  o'er  all  earth 

rose  the  Sun, 
O'er  the  horizons,  e'en  as  Seal  of  Suleyman's 

display.173 
The  eye  of  understanding  looked  upon 

this  wondrous  sight ; 
At  length  the  soul's  ear  learned  the  secret  hid  in 

this  which  lay  : 
What  is  it  that  hath  decked  earth's  hall  with 

splendors  such  as  this, 
Saving  the  might  and  fortune  of  the  King  who 

earth  doth  sway  ? 
He  who  sits  high  upon  the  throne  above 

all  crowned  kings, 
The  Hero  of  the  battlefield  of  dread 

Keycznz  fray,17* 
Jemshzd63  of  happiness  and  joy, 

Darius  of  the  fight, 
Khusrev65  of  right  and  clemency, 

Iskender  B3  of  his  day ! 

Lord  of  the  East  and  West  !   King  whom  the 

kings  of  earth  obey! 
Prince  of  the  Epoch  !   Sultan  Suleyman ! 

Triumphant  Aye  ! 

Meet  'tis  before  the  steed  of  yonder 

Monarch  of  the  realms 
Of  right  and  equity,  should  march  earth's  rulers' 

bright  array. 


109 


Rebelled  one  'gainst  his  word,   secure  he'd 

bind  him  in  his  bonds, 
E'en  like  the  dappled  pard,  the  sky 

chained  with  the  Milky  Way. 
Lord  of  the  land  of  graciousness  and  bounty, 

on  whose  board 
Of  favors,   spread  is  all  the  wealth   that 

sea  and  mine  display  ; 
Longs  the  perfumer,   Early  Spring,   for  the 

odor  of  his  grace  ; 
Need  hath  the  merchant,  Autumn,  of  his  bounteous 

hand  alway.175 
Through  tyrant's  hard  oppression  no  one 

groaneth  in  his  reign, 
And  though  may  wail  the  flute  and  lute, 

the  law  they  disobey. 
Beside  thy  justice,   tyranny's  the  code  of 

Key-Qubad  ;"6 
Beside  thy  wrath,  but  mildness  Qahraman's 

most  deadly  fray.177 
Thy  scimitar's  the  gleaming  guide  empires  to 

overthrow, 

No  foe  of  Islam  can  abide  before  thy  sabre's  ray. 
Saw  it  thy  wrath,  through  dread  of  thee  would 

trembling  seize  the  pine  ; 
The  falling  stars  a  chain  around  the  heaven's 

neck  would  lay. 
Amidst  thy  sea-like  armies  vast,  thy  flags 

and  standards  fair, 
The  sails  are  which  the  ship  of  splendid  triumph 

doth  display. 
Thrust  it  its  beak  into  the  Sphere,  'twould 

seize  it  as  a  grain, 
The  'anqa  strong,  thy  power,  to  which  'twere 

but  a  seed-like  prey.6 
In  past  eternity  the  hand,  thy  might, 

it  struck  with  bat, 
That  time  is  this  time,  for  the  Sky's  Ball 

spins  upon  its  way.178 


no  OTTOMAN   POEMS 

Within  the  rosy  garden  of  thy  praise  the  bird, 

the   heart, 
Singeth  this  soul-bestowing,  smooth-as-water-running  lay. 

If  yonder  mouth  be  not  the  soul, 

O  heart-enslaver  gay, 
Then  wherefore  is  it  like  the  soul, 

hid  from  our  eyes  away? 
Since  in  the  casket  of  our  mind  thy  ruby's 

picture  lies,23 
The  mine  is  now  no  fitting  home  for 

gem  of  lustrous  ray. 
Thy  tresses  fall  across  thy  cheek  in  many 

.a  twisting  curl, 
®To  dance  to  Hijaz  have  the  Sh^rms  tucked  their 

skirts,8  we'd  say.179 
Let  both  the  youthful  pine  and  cypress  view 

thy  motions  fair; 
The  gardener  now  to  rear  the  willow  need  no 

more  assay.32 
The  dark  and  cloudy  brained  of  men  thine 

eyebrows  black  depict, 
While  those  of  keen,  discerning  wit  thy  glistening 

teeth  portray. 
Before  thy  cheek  the  rose  and  jasmine  bow6d 

in  sujad, 
The  cypress  to  thy  figure  in  qiyam  did 

homage  pay.180 
The  heart's  throne  is  the  seat  of  that  great  monarch, 

love  for  thee  ; 
The  soul,  the  secret  court,  where  doth  thy  ruby's 

picture  stay. 
The  radiance  of  thy  beauty  bright  hath  filled 

earth  like  the  sun. 
The  hall,  BE!  and  it  is,  resounds  with  love  of 

thee  for  aye.181 
The  cries  of  those  on  plain  of  earth  have 

risen  to  the  skies, 
The  shouts  of  those  who  dwell  above  have  found 

to  earth  their  way. 


in 

Nor  can  the  nightingale  with  songs  as  sweet 

as  Baqz's  sing, 
Nor  happy  as  thy  star  can  beam  the  garden's  bright 

array. 
The  mead,  the  world,  blooms  through  thy  beauty's  rose, 

like  Irem's  bower  ;182 
On  every  side  are  nightingales  of  sweet, 

melodious  lay. 
Now  let  us  pray  at  Allah's  court : 

(<  May  this  for  aye  endure, 
The  might  and  glory  of  this  prospered  King's 

resplendent  sway; 
Until  the  lamp,  the  world-illuming  sun, 

at  break  of  dawn, 
A  silver  candelabrum  on  the  circling  skies 

display,183 
Oh  !  may  the  Ruler  of  the  world  with  skirt  of 

aid  and  grace 
Protect  the  taper  of  his  life  from  blast  of  doom, 

we  pray  !  B 
Glory's  the  comrade  ;  Fortune,  the  cup-bearer 

at  our  feast ; 
The  beaker  is  the  Sphere;  the  bowl,  the  Steel  of 

gold-inlay !  "* 


H2  OTTOMAN   POEMS 


II 

GAZEL 

Mahabbat  bahri  dir,  &him  yelinden  mevj  ivurur  yashim 

jrr-us  love's  wild  sea,  my   sighs'  fierce  wind  doth  lash  those 

waves  my  tears  uprear ; 
My  head,  the  barque  of  sad  despite  ;  mine  eyebrows  twain, 

the  anchors  here. 
Mine  unkempt  hair,  the  den  of  yonder  tiger  dread, 

the  fair  one's  love ; 
My  head,  dismay  and  sorrow's  realm's  deserted 

mountain-region  drear. 
At  whatsoever  feast  I  drain  the  cup  thy  rubies' 

mem'ry  to, 
Amidst  all  those  who  grace  that  feast,  except  the  dregs, 

I've  no   friend  near. 
Thou  know'st,  O  Light  of  my  poor  eyes,  with  tutya  mixed  are 

gems  full  bright, 
What  then  if  weep  on  thy  path's  dust  mine  eyes  that  scatter 

pearls  most  clear !  42 
The  Sphere,  old  hag,  with  witchcraft's  spell  hath  parted  me 

from  my  fond  love, 
O  Barqz,  see,  by  God,  how  vile  a  trick  yon  jade  hath 

played  me  here! 


BAQS  113 


III 

GAZEL 

Filter  durur  yolunda  senin  /aywa/  dir 

YEARS  trodden  under  foot  have  I  lain  on  that  path 
of  thine  ; 
Thy  musky  locks  are  noose-like  cast,  around  my 

feet  to  twine. 
O  Princess  mine !   boast  not  thyself  through  loveliness  of 

face, 

For  that,  alas,  is  but  a  sun  which  must  full  soon  decline ! 
The  loved  one's  stature  tall,  her  form  as  fair  as  juniper,32 
Bright  'midst  the  rosy  bowers  of  grace  a  slender  tree  doth 

shine. 

Her  figure,  fair-proportioned  as  my  poesy  sublime,  18B 
Her  slender  waist  is  like  its  subtle   thought  —  hard  to 

divine. 186 
Then  yearn  not,  Baqz,  for  the  load  of  love's 

misfortune    dire  ; 
For  that  to   bear  mayhap  thy  soul  no  power  doth 

enshrine. 
8 


ii4  OTTOMAN  POEMS 


IV 

GAZKL 

Sallanan  n&zila  ol  serv-i  semen-sima.  mi  dirt 

WITH  her  graceful-moving  form,  a  Cypress 
jasmine-faced  is  she? 
Or  in  Eden's  bower  a  branch  upon  the  Lote 

or  T«ba-tree  ?187 
That  thy  blood-stained  shaft  which  rankles  in  my  wounded 

breast,  my  love, 
In  the  rosebud  hid  a  lovely  rose-leaf,   sweetheart, 

can  it  be?188 
To  the  dead  of  pain  of  anguish  doth  its  draught 

fresh  life  impart ; 
O  cup-bearer,   is  the  red  wine  Jesu's  breath?  tell, 

tell  to  me!"» 
Are  they  teeth  those  in  thy  mouth,  or  on  the  rosebud 

drops  of  dew? 
Are  they  sparkling  stars,  or  are  they  gleaming  pearls, 

that  there  I  see? 
Through  the  many  woes  thou  wreakest  upon  Baqz, 

sick  of  heart, 
Is't  thy  will  to  slay  him,  or  is  it  but  sweet  disdain 

in  thee? 


BAQS  115 


V 
GAZEL 

£>_addin  qatinda  qamet-i  shimska.d  pest  olur 

BEFORE  thy  form,  the  box-tree's  lissom  figure  dwarfed 
would  show  ;32 

Those  locks  of  thine  the  pride    of  ambergris  would 

overthrow.43 
Who,  seeing  thy  cheek's  glow,   recalls  the  ruby  is 

deceived ; 
He  who  hath  drunken  deep  of  wine  inebriate 

doth  grow. 
Should  she  move  forth  with  figure  like  the 

juniper  in  grace, 
The  garden's  cypress  to  the  loved  one's  form 

must  bend  right  low. 
Beware,   give  not  the  mirror  bright  to  yonder 

paynim  maid,190 
Lest  she  idolater  become,   when  there  her  face 

doth  show. 
Baqz,   doth  he  not  drink  the  wine  of  obligation's 

grape, 
Who  drunken  with  A-lestu 's  cup's  o'erwhelming  draught 

doth  go? "1 


ii6  OTTOMAN   POEMS 


VI 

GAZKL 

1 h.riz in  a.b-i  nab  dir  gvya. 

THY  cheek,  like  limpid  water,  clear  doth  gleam ; 
Thy  pouting  mouth  a  bubble  round  doth  seem. 
The  radiance  of  thy  cheek's  sun  on  the  heart 
Like  moonlight  on  the  water's  face  doth  beam. 
The  heart's  page,  through  the  tracings  of  thy  down,51 
A  volume  all  illumined  one  would  deem. 
That  fair  Moon's  sunny  love  the  earth  have  burned, 
It  warm  as  rays  of  summer  sun  doth  stream. 
At  woeful  sorrow's  feast  my  blood-shot  eyes, 
Two  beakers  of  red  wine  would  one  esteem. 
Baqz,  her  mole  dark-hued  like  ambergris, 
A  fragrant  musk-pod  all  the  world  would  deem. 


EAQS  117 


VII 
GAZEL 

Dil  derd-i  'ishq-i  y&r  He  bezm-i  bel&da  dir 

ALL  sick  the  heart  with  love  for  her,  sad  at  the  feast 
of  woe; 

Bent    form,    the    harp ;    low    wail,    the    flute ;    heart's 

blood  for  wine  doth  flow.77 
Prone  lies  the  frame  her  path's  dust  'neath,  in  union's 

stream  the  eye,192 

In  air  the  mind,  the  soul  'midst  separation's  fiery  glow. 
O  ever  shall  it  be  my  lot,  zone-like,  thy    waist  to  clasp ! 
'Twixt  us,  O  love,   the  dagger-blade  of  severance 

doth  show ! 
Thou  art  the  Queen  of  earth,  thy  cheeks  are  Towers 

of  might,  this  day, 
Before  thy  Horse,  like  Pawns,  the  Kings  of  grace  and 

beauty  go.193 
Him  hinder  not,  beside  thee  let  him  creep,  O 

Shade-like  stay! 
Baq*,  thy  servant,  O  my  Queen,  before  thee 

lieth  low. 


n8  OTTOMAN   POEMS 


VIII 
GAZKL 

(ON  AUTUMN) 
JV&m  u  niskane  qalmadi  fasl-i  baha.rden 

Lo,  NE'ER  a  trace  or  sign  of  springtide's  beauty  doth 
remain  ; 
Fall'n,  midst  the  garden  lie  the  leaves,  now  all 

their  glory  vain. 
Bleak  stand  the  orchard  trees,  all  clad  in  tattered 

dervish  rags ; 
Dark  Autumn's  blast  hath  torn  away  the  hands  from 

off  the  plane." 
From  each  hill-side  they  come  and  cast  their  gold 

low  at  the  feet 
Of  garden  trees,  as  hoped  the  streams  from  these  some 

boon  to  gain.194 
Stay  not  within  the  parterre,  let  it  tremble  with 

its  shame  : 
Bare  every  shrub,  this  day  doth  nought  of 

leaf  or  fruit  retain. 
Baqz,  within  the  garden  lies  full  many  a 

fallen  leaf ; 
Low  lying  there,  it  seems  they  'gainst  the  winds 

of  Fate  complain. 


BAQS  119 


IX 

GAZEL 

L&le-khadler  qildilar  gul-gesht-i  sa/ira.  semt  setnt 

TULIP-CHEEKED    ones    over  rosy  field  and  plain  stray 
all  around ; 
Mead  and  garden  cross  they,  looking  wistful  each  way, 

all  around. 
These  the  lovers  true  of  radiant  faces,  aye,  but  who 

the  fair  ? 
Lissom  Cypress,  thou  it  is  whom  eager  seek 

they  all  around. 
Band  on  band  Woe's  legions  camped  before  the 

City  of  the  Heart, 
There,  together  leagued,   sat  Sorrow,  Pain,   Strife, 

Dismay,  all  around. 
From  my  weeping  flows  the  river  of  my  tears 

on  every   side, 
Like  an  ocean  'tis  again,   a  sea  that  casts  spray 

all  around. 
Forth  through  all  the  Seven  Climates  have 

the  words  of  Baqz  gone ; 
This  refulgent  verse  recited  shall  be  alway, 

all  around.     , 


120  OTTOMAN  POEMS 


X 

GAZEL 

&fita.binden   olur  uur 

FROM  thine  own  beauty's  radiant  sun  doth  light  flow; 
How  lustrously  doth  now  the  crystal  glass  show ! 
Thy  friend's  the  beaker,  and  the  cup's  thy  comrade; 
Like  to  the  dregs  why  dost  thou  me  aside  throw? 
Hearts  longing  for  thy  beauty  can  resist  not  ; 
Hold,  none  can  bear  the  dazzling  vision's  bright  glow! 
United  now  the  lover,  and  now  parted  ; 
This  world  is  sometimes  pleasure  and  sometimes  woe. 
Bound  in  the  spell  of  thy  locks'  chain  is  B<zqz, 
Mad  he,  my  Liege,  and  to  the  mad  they  grace  show. 


BAQJ  121 

XI 
GAZEL 

Peyale  khusrev-i  milk-i  gama   tzj-i  key&ni  dir 

THE  goblet  as  affliction's  Khusrev's 6B  bright  Keyam174 
crown  doth  shine ; 
And  surely  doth  the  wine-jar  love's  King's  Khusrevam 

hoard  enshrine. 
Whene'er  the  feast  recalls  Jemshzd,  down  from  its  eyes 

the  red  blood  rolls  ; 
The  rosy-tinted  wine  its  tears,  the  beakers  its 

blood- weeping  eyne. 
At  parting's  banquet  should  the  cup,  the  heart, 

with  blood  brim  o'er,   were't  strange? 
A  bowl  that,  to  the  fair  we'll  drain,  a  goblet  filled  full  high 

with  wine. 
O  Moon,  if  by  thy  door  one  day  the  foe  should  sudden 

me  o'ertake  — 
A  woe  by  Heaven  decreed,  a  fate  to  which  I  must 

myself  resign ! 
The  fume  of  beauty's  and  of  grace's  censer  is  thy  cheek's 

sweet  mole, 
The  smoke  thereof  thy  musky  locks  that  spreading  fragrant 

curl  and  twine  ; 
Thy  cheek  rose-hued  doth  light  its  taper  at  the  moon  that 

shines  most  bright, 
Its  candlestick  at  grace's  feast  is  yonder  collar  fair 

of  thine. 
Of  love  and  passion  is  the  lustrous  sheen  of  Baq/'s 

verse  the  cause  ; 
As  Life's  Stream  brightly  this  doth  shine ;  but  that, 

th'  Eternal  Life  Divine. 


122  OTTOMAN   POEMS 


XII 
GAZEL. 

ol  afeti  aldiqja   tenha.  qoynuna 

WHEN   the    sheets    have  yonder  Torment  to  their  bosom 
ta'en  to  rest,"6 
Think   I  :    <(  Hides  the  night-adorning  Moon  within 

the  cloudlet's  breast. }> 
In  the  dawning,   O  thou  turtle,  mourn  not  with  those 

senseless  plaints ; 
In  the  bosom  of  some  stately  cypress  thou'rt  a  nightly 

guest. 
Why  thou  weepest  from  the  heavens,  never  can  I  think, 

O  dew; 

Every  night  some  lovely  rose's  bosom  fair  thou  enterest. 
Hath  the  pearl  seen  in  the  story  of  thy  teeth  its  tale 

of  shame, 
Since  the  sea  hath  hid  the  album  of  the  shell 

within  its  breast  ? 
Longing  for  thy  cheeks  hath  Baqz  all  his  bosom 

marked  with  scars, 

Like  as  though  he'd  cast  of  rose-leaves  fresh  a  handful 
o'er  his  chest.92 


123 


XIII 

TERK/B-BEND 

Elegy  on  Sultan  Suleyman  1.  196 

Ey  fz.-yi-bend-i  dUM-geh-i  qayd-i  nam  u  nengl 

OTHOU  !   foot-bounden  in  the  mesh  of  fame  and 
glory's  snare  ! 
Till  when  shall  last  the  lust  of  faithless  earth's 

pursuits  and  care? 
At  that  first  moment,   which  of  life's  fair  springtide 

is  the  last, 
'Tis  need  the  tulip-cheek  the  tint  of  autumn  leaf 

should  wear; 
'Tis  need  that  thy  last  home  should  be,  e'en  like  the  dregs', 

the  dust;  197 
'Tis  need  the  stone  from  hand  of  Fate  should  be  joy's 

beaker's  share.  198 

He  is  a  man  indeed  whose  heart  is  as  a  mirror  clear; 
Man  art  thou?  why  then  doth  thy  breast  the  tiger's 

fierceness  bear? 
In  understanding's  eye  how  long  shall  heedless 

slumber  bide? 
Will  not  war's  Lion-Monarch's  fate  suffice  to  make 

thee  ware? 
He,  Prince  of  Fortune's  Cavalier  !   he  to  whose 

charger  bold,  199 
Whene'er  he  caracoled  or  pranced,  cramped  was  earth's 

tourney-square! 
He,  to  the  lustre  of  whose  sword  the  Magyar 

bowed  his  head  ! 
He,  the  dread  gleaming  of  whose  brand  the  Frank 

can  well  declare  ! 
Like  tender  rose-leaf,  gently  laid  he  in  the  dust 

his  face, 

And  Earth,  the  Treasurer,  him  placed  like  jewel 
in  his  case. 


124  OTTOMAN   POEMS 

In  truth,  he  was  the  radiance  of  rank  high  and 

glory  great, 

A  Shah,  Iskender-diademed,  of  Data's  armied  state  ;  2CO 
Before  the  dust  beneath  his  feet  the  Sphere  bent 

low  its  head;  201 
Earth's  shrine  of  adoration  was  his  royal 

pavilion's  gate. 
The  smallest  of  his  gifts  the  meanest  beggar 

made  a  prince; 

Exceeding  bounteous,  exceeding  kind  a  Potentate  ! 
The  court  of  glory  of  his  kingly  majesty  most  high 
Was  aye  the  centre  where  would  hopes  of  sage 

and  poet  wait. 
Although  he  yielded  to   Eternal  Destiny's 

command, 
A  King  was  he  in  might  as  Doom  and  puissant 

as  Fate ! 
Weary  and  worn  by  this  sad,  changeful  Sphere, 

deem  not  thou  him: 
Near  God  to  be,  did  he  his  rank  and  glory 

abdicate. 
What  wonder  if  our  eyes  no  more  life  and  the 

world  behold! 
His  beauty  fair,   as  sun  and  moon,   did  earth 

irradiate ! 
If  folk  upon  the  bright  sun  look,   with  tears  are 

filled  their  eyes ; 

For  seeing  it,  doth  yon  moon-face  before 
their  minds  arise!  202 

Now  let  the  cloud  blood  drop  on  drop  weep, 

and  its  form  bend  low! 
And  let  the  Judas-tree  anew  in  blossoms 

gore-hued  blow !  9* 
With  this  sad  anguish  let  the  stars'  eyes  rain 

down  bitter  tears! 
And  let  the  smoke  from  hearts  on  fire  the  heavens 

all  darkened  show! 13* 
Their  azure  garments  let  the  skies  change  into 

deepest  black ! 


i25 


Let   the  whole  world  attire  itself  in  robes  of  princely 

woe! 
In  breasts  of  fairies  and  of  men  still  let  the 

flame  burn  on  — 
Of  parting  from  the  blest  King  Suleyman 

the  fiery  glow  !  125 
His  home  above  the  Highest  Heaven's  ramparts 

he  hath  made  ; 
This  world  was  all  unworthy  of  his  majesty, 

I  trow. 
The  bird,   his  soul,  hath,  huma-like,   aloft 

flown  to  the  skies,  203 
And  nought  remaineth  save  a  few  bones  on 

the  earth  below. 
The  speeding  Horseman  of  the  plain  of  Time 

and  Space  was  he  ; 
Fortune  and  Fame  aye  as  his  friends  and  bridle 

guides  did  go. 
The  wayward  courser,   cruel  Fate, 

was  wild  and  fierce  of  pace, 
And  fell  to  earth  the  shade  of  God  the 
Lord's  benignant  grace. 

Through  grief  for  thee,  bereft  of  rest  and  tearful 

e'en  as  I, 
Sore  weeping  let  the  cloud  of  spring  go  wand'ring 

through  the  sky  ! 
And  let  the  wailing  of  the  birds  of  dawn 

the  whole  world  fill! 
Be  roses  torn!   and  let  the  nightingale 

distressful  cry! 
Their  hyacinths  as  weeds  of  woe  displaying, 

let  them  weep, 
Down  o'er  their  skirts  their  flowing  tears  20* 

let  pour  —  the  mountains  high! 
The  odor  of  thy  kindliness  recalling, 

tulip-like, 
Within  the  Tatar  musk-deer's  heart 

let  fire  of  anguish  lie  !  61 


126  OTTOMAN   POEMS 

Through  yearning  for  thee  let  the  rose 

its  ear  lay  on  the  path ! 205 

And,  narcisse-like,  till  the  Last  Day  the   watch- 
man's calling  ply! 
Although  the  pearl-diffusing  eye  to  oceans 

turned  the  world, 
Ne'er  into  being  should  there  come  a  pearl 

with  thee  to  vie! 
O  heart!   this  hour  'tis  thou  that  sympathizer 

art  with  me; 
Come,  let  us  like  the  flute  bewail,   and  moan, 

and  plaintive  sigh ! 
The  notes  of  mourning  and  of  dole 

aloud  let  us  rehearse; 

And  let  all  those  who  grieve  be  moved  by 
this  our  seven-fold  verse.  206 

Will  earth's  king  ne'er  awake  from  sleep  ?  —  broke 

hath  the  dawn  of  day ; 
Will  ne'er  he  move  forth  from  his  tent,  adorned 

as  Heaven's  display? 
Long  have  our  eyes  dwelt  on  the  road,  . 

and  yet  no  news  hath  come 
From  yonder  land,  the  threshold  of 

his  majesty's  array:207 
The  color  of  his   cheek  hath  paled,  dry-lipped  he 

lieth  there, 
E'en  like  that  rose  which  from  the  vase  of  flowers 

hath  fall'n  away. 
Goes  now  the  Khusrev  of  the  skies208  behind 

the  cloudy  veil, 
For  shame,  remembering  thy  love  and  kindness, 

one  would  say. 
My  prayer  is  ever :  <(  May  the  babes,  his  tears, 

go  'neath  the  sod, 
Or  old  or  young  be  he  who  weeps  not  thee  in 

sad  dismay.  )>2°9 
With  flame  of  parting  from  thee  let  the  sun  burn 

and  consume; 


127 


And  o'er  the  wastes  through  grief  let  darkness  of  the 

clouds  hold  sway. 
Thy  talents  and  thy  feats  let  it  recall  and  weep 

in  blood, 
Yea,  let  thy  sabre  from  its  sheath  plunge  in  the 

darksome  clay. 
Its  collar,  through  its  grief  and  anguish, 

let  the  reed-pen  tear  ! 

And  let  the  earth  its  vestment  rend  through 
sorrow  and  despair  ! 

Thy  sabre  made  the  foe  the  anguish  dire  of  wounds 

to  drain  ; 
Their  tongues  are  silenced,  none  who  dares  to  gainsay 

doth  remain. 
The  youthful  cypress,  head  exalted,   looked  upon 

thy  lance, 
And  ne'er  its  lissom  twigs  their  haughty  heirs 

displayed  again. 
Where'er  thy  stately  charger  placed  his  hoof, 

from  far  and  near 
Flocked  nobles,   all  upon  thy  path  their  lives  to 

offer  fain. 
In  desert  of  mortality  the  bird,   desire, 

rests  ne'er; 
Thy  sword  in  cause  of  God  did  lives  as 

sacrifice  ordain. 
As  sweeps  a  scimitar,  across  earth's  face  on 

every  side, 
Of  iron-girded  heroes  of  the  world  thou 

threw'st  a  chain. 
Thou  took'st   a   thousand  idol-temples, 

turn6dst  all  to  mosques  ; 
Where  jangled  bells  thou  mad'st  be  sung  the  call 

to  Prayers'   strain. 
At   length     is  struck  the  signal-drum,  and  thou  hast 

journeyed  hence  ; 
Lo  !  thy  first  resting-place  is  Eden's  flowery, 

verdant  plain. 


128  OTTOMAN   POEMS 

Praise   is  to   God  !    for  He  in  the  Two   Worlds 

hath  blessed  thee, 
And  caused  thy  glorious   name,  Hero  and  Martyr 

both  to  be.  210 

Baq*,  the  beauty  of  the  King,  the  heart's  delight, 

behold  !  an 
The  mirror  of  the  work  of  God,  the  Lord  of 

Right,  behold  ! 
The  dear  old  man  hath  passed  away  from  th"  Egypt 

sad,  the  world ; 
The  youthful  Prince,   alert  and  fair  as  Joseph 

bright,  behold! 
The  Sun  hath  risen,  and  the  Dawning  gray  hath 

touched  its  bourne  ; 
The  lovely  face  of  yon  Khusrev,65  whose  soul  is  light, 

behold  ! 
This  chace  now  to  the  grave  hath  sent  the  Behram 

of  the  Age ; 
Go,  at  his  threshold  serve,   King  Erdesh/r 

aright,  behold !  212 
The  blast  of  Fate  to  all  the  winds  hath  blown 

Suleyman's  throne ;  l25 
Sultan  Sel/m  Khan  on  Iskender's5  couch  of  might, 

behold  ! 
The  Tiger  of  the  mount  of  war  to  rest  in  sleep 

hath  gone  ; 
The  Lion  who  doth  now  keep  watch  on  glory's  height, 

behold ! 
The  Peacock  fair  of  Eden's  mead  hath  soared  to 

Heaven's  parterre ;  213 
The  lustre  of  the  Huma  of  high,  happy 

flight,  behold! 
Eternal  may  the  glory  of  the  heaven-high 

Khusrev  dwell ! 

Blessings  be   on  the  Monarch's  soul  and 
spirit :  —  and    farewell ! 


'ADL7 

(SULTAN   MUHAMMED   III.) 

1012    [1603] 

GAZEL 

Toq  durur  zulma  riz^miz  'adla  biz  m&illeriz 

CRUEL  tyranny  we  love    not,  nay,  to  justice  we  incline; 
Full   contentedly    our  eyes   wait  for  the  blest    com- 
mand divine. 

Know  we  truly,  for  a  mirror,  world-reflecting,  is  our  heart ; 
Yet  conceive  not  us  to  Fortune's  ever-changeful  ways  supine. 
To  the  rule  of  God  submissive,   all  concern  we  cast  aside ; 
We  indeed  on  Him  confiding,  on  His  providence  recline. 
Shall   our  heart   anoint   its    eye   then    with   the    kuhl   of  Is- 
fahan ? 86 
Pleased  it  with  this  tutya  :  dust  that  doth  the  Fair  One's 

pathway  line.*2 

Since  our  heart,   'Adi/,  within  Love's  crucible  was  purified, 
'Midst  the   universe,  from   guile   and   guilt   free,   bright  our 

soul  doth  shine. 
9 


BAKHT7 

SULTAN   AHMED   I.) 

1026    [1617] 

GAZEL 
Buy  ersa  /aw  mesAammina  fasl-i  baharden 

OTHAT  a  fragrant  breath  might  reach  the  soul  from 
early  spring ! 
O  that  with  warbling  sweet  of  birds  the  groves  once 

more  might  ring ! 

O  that  in  melody  the  songs  anew  might  rose-like  swell ! 
That  fresh  in  grace  and  voice  the  nightingale  be  heard 

to  sing  ! 
O  that  the  New  Year's  Day  were  come,  when, 

minding  times  gone  by,214 
Should  each  and  all  from  Time  and  Fate  demand 

their  reckoning ! 
In  short,  O  Bakht/,  would  the  early  vernal  days 

were  here, 
Then,   'midst  the  mead,  ne'er  should  we    part  from  brink 

of  limpid  spring. 
(13°) 


(SULTAN    'OSM/IN    II) 

1031    [1622] 

GAZKL 

Gurdugum  gibi  sent  oldu  gunul  a-zvara 

SOON  as  I  beheld  thee,  mazed  and  wildered  grew 
my  sad  heart ; 
How  shall  I  my  love  disclose  to  thee  who 

tyrant  dread  art  ? 
How  shall  I  hold  straight  upon  my  road, 

when  yonder  Torment 
Smitten  hath  my  breast  with  deadly  wounds  by  her 

eyelash-dart  ? 
Face,  a  rose ;  and  mouth,  a  rosebud  ;  form, 

a  slender  sapling  — 
How  shall  I  not  be  the  slave  of  Princess  such 

as  thou  art? 
Ne'er  hath  heart  a  beauty  seen  like  her  of  graceful 

figure ; 
Joyous  would  I  for  yon  charmer's  eyebrow  with 

my  life  part. 
Farise,  what  can  I  do  but  love  that  peerless 

beauty  ? 
Ah  !   this  aged  Sphere  hath  made  me  lover  of 

yon  sweetheart. 


'ATM'/ 
1045  tl635] 

MUSEDDES 
Kh  kim  bagrim  feym&ne  gibi  doldu  khun 

AH  !  THAT  once  again  my  heart  with  blood  is  filled, 
like  beaker,  high  ; 
At  the  feast  of  parting  from  my  love  I  fell, 

and  prostrate  lie  ; 
O'er  this  wildered  heart  the  gloom  of  frenzy,  conquering, 

doth  fly  ; 
In  the  valley  of  distraction  ne'er  a  guide  can 

I  descry. 
Heedless  mistress!  loveless  Fortune!  ever-shifting, 

restless  sky!114 

Sorrows  many  !  friends  not  any !   strong-starred  foeman ! 
feeble  I! 

In  the  land  of  exile  loomed  dark  on  one  side  the 

night  of  woe, 
Nowhere  o'er  me  did  the  lustrous  moon  of  beauty's 

heaven  glow; 
Yonder  glared  the  Two  Infortunes,78  sank  my 

helping  planet  low ; 
Here  did  fortune,  there  did  gladness,  parting  from  me, 

distant  go. 
Heedless  mistress !   loveless  Fortune  !  ever-shifting, 

restless  sky! 

Sorrows  many !   friends  not  any !   strong-starred  foeman ! 
feeble  I ! 

Strange  is't  if  the  nightingale,  my  heart,  in  thousand 

notes  doth  wail? 
Fate  to  part  it  from  the  rosebud,  the  beloved, 

did  prevail ; 


'AT  A' I  133 

Whilst  I'm  on  the  thorn  of  anguish,  rivals  with  my  love 

regale  : 
Why  recite  my  woes,   O  comrades?  space  were  none 

to  tell  their  tale  ! 
Heedless  mistress!   loveless  Fortune!  ever  shifting, 

restless  sky  ! 

Sorrows  many  !   friends  not  any  !   strong-starred  foeman  ! 
feeble  I  ! 

E'en  a  moment  at  the  feast  of  woes  from  tears  can 

I  refrain? 
How  shall  not  the  wine,  my  tears,   down  rolling, 

all  my  vestment  stain  ? 
Can  it  be  with  e'en  one  breath  I  should  not  like  the 

reed  complain? 
Sad,  confused,  like  end  of  banquet,215  why  then 

should  not  I  remain? 
Heedless  mistress !  loveless  Fortune !  ever-shifting, 

restless  sky  ! 

Sorrows  many !   friends  not  any  !   strong-starred  foeman  ! 
feeble  I! 

Yonder  Princess,  though  I  served  her,  pitiless  drave 

me  away, 
Banished  me  far  from  her  city,   sent  me  from  her 

court's  array  : 
When  I  parted  from  her  tresses,  black  the  world 

before  me  lay ; 
Helpless  'midst  the  darkness  did  I,  like  unto 

'AtaV,  stray. 
Heedless  mistress  !   loveless  Fortune !  ever-shifting, 

restless  sky  ! 

Sorrows  many  !   friends  not  any  !   strong-starred  foeman  ! 
feeble  I  !  • 


NEF'/ 
1045   [1635] 

GAZEL 
'Art/  ol,  ekl-i  dil  ol,  rind  qalender-meshreb  ol 

BK  THOU  wise  and  thoughtful,  e'en   as  qalender  in  mind 
be  free  ;  21« 
Nor  a  faithless,  graceless  paynim,  nor  a  bigot 

Muslim  be. 
Be  not  vain  of  wisdom,  though  thou  be  the  Plato  of 

the  age;  217 
Be  a  school-child  when  a  learned  man  and  righteous 

thou  dost  see. 
Like  the  world-adorning  sun,  rub  thou  thy  face 

low  'midst  the  dust ; 
Overwhelm  earth  with  thy  planet,  yet  without  a    . 

planet  be.218 
Fret  not  after  Khizar,  rather  go,  and,  like  to 

Nef'z's  heart, 
At  the  channel  of  Life's  Stream  of  grace  drink  full 

contentedly.58 
(134) 


R 


HAFIZ    PASHA 

(GRAND    VEZ/R) 
1041    [1632] 

GAZKL  219 

To  Sultan  Murad  IV 
Aldi  etr&fi  'aduv  imd&da  lasker  yoq-mi-dir? 

OUND  us  foes  throng,  host  to  aid  us  here  in  sad  plight, 
is  there  none? 

In  the  cause  of  God  to  combat,  chief  of  tried  might, 

is  there  none? 
None  who  will  checkmate  the  foe,  Castle  to  Castle, 

face  to  face? 
In  the  battle  who  will  Queen-like  guide  the  brave  Knight, 

is  there  none?  22° 
Midst  a  fearful  whirlpool  we  are  fallen  helpless, 

send  us  aid! 
Us  to  rescue,  a  strong  swimmer  in  our  friends'  sight, 

is  there  none? 
Midst  the  fight  to  be  our  comrade,  head  to  give  or 

heads  to    take, 
On  the  field  of  earth  a  hero  of  renown  bright, 

is  there   none? 
Know  we  not  wherefore  in  turning  off  our  woes  ye 

thus  delay ; 
Day  of  Reckoning,  aye,  and  question  of  the  poor's  plight, 

is  there   none? 
With  us  'midst    the  foeman's    flaming  streams  of  scorching 

fire  to  plunge, 
Salamander  with  experience  of  Fate  dight, 

is  there  none? 
This  our  letter,  to  the  court  of  Sultan  Munzd, 

quick  to  bear, 
Pigeon,  rapid  as  the  storm- wind  in  its  swift  flight, 

is  there   none  ? 

(i35) 


MUR^D/ 

(SULTAN    MURylD    IV.) 
1049   [1640] 

I 

GAZEL 

IN  REPLY  TO  THE  PRECEDING 
H&fiza.,  Bagda.da  itnd&d  etmege  er  yoq-mi-'dirt 

To  RELIEVE  Bagdad,  O  Hafiz,  man  of  tried  might, 
is  there  none  ? 

Aid  from  us  thou  seek'st,  then  with  thee 
host  of  fame  bright,  is  there  none  ? 
(<  I'm  the  Queen  the  foe  who'll  checkmate, w 

thus  it  was  that  thou  didst  say; 
Room  for  action  now  against  him  with  the  brave  Knight, 

is  there  none  ? 
Though  we  know  thou  hast  no  rival 

in  vain- glorious,  empty  boasts, 
Yet  to  take  dread  vengeance  on  thee,  say,  a 

Judge  right,  is  there  none  ? 
Whilst  thou  layest  claim  to  manhood, 

whence  this  cowardice  of  thine  ? 
Thou  art  frightened,  yet  beside  thee  fearing  no  fight, 

is  there  none  ? 
Heedless  of  thy  duty  thou, 

the  Rafiz/s  have  ta'en  Bagdad;  221 
Shall  not  God  thy  foe  be  ?     Day  of  Reckoning, 

sure,  right,  is  there  none  ? 
They  have  wrecked  Eba-Han/fa's  city 

through  thy  lack  of  care;  22a 
O  in  thee  of  Islam's  and  the  Prophet's  zeal,   light, 

is  there  none  ? 
(136) 


MUR^D/  137 

God,  who  favored  us,   whilst  yet  we  knew  not, 

with  the  Sultanate, 
Shall  again  accord  Bagdad,  decreed  of  God's  might, 

is  there  none? 
Thou  hast  brought  on  Islam's  army  direful  ruin 

with  thy  bribes ; 
Have  we  not  heard  how  thou  say'st :  a  Word  of  this 

foul  blight,   is  there  none?* 
With  the  aid  of  God,  fell  vengeance 

on  the  enemy  to  take, 
By  me  skilled  and  aged  vezz'r,  pious, 

zeal-dight,  is  there  none? 
Now  shall  I  appoint  commander  a  vezz'r 

of  high  emprize, 
Will  not  Khizar  B3  and  the  Prophet  aid  him  ? 

guide  right,  is  there    none? 
Is  it  that  thou  dost  the  whole  world  void  and 

empty  now  conceive? 
Of  the  Seven  Climes,9  Muradz,   King  of 

high  might,  is  there    none? 


i38  OTTOMAN   POEMS 


II 

LUGAZ  223 

Bir  qal'a-i  mu'allaq  ichinda  oldu  deryz. 

THERE'S  an  o'erhanging  castle  in  which  there 
flows  a  main, 
And  there  within  that  castle  a  fish  its  home 

hath  ta'en ; 

The  fish  within  its  mouth  doth  hold  a  shining  gem, 
Which  wastes  the  fish  as  long  as  it  therein  doth 

remain. 

This  puzzle  to  the  poets  is  offered  by  Munzd; 
Let  him  reply  who  office  or  place  desires  to  gain. 


'AZ/Z7 
1050  [1641  ctf.] 
From  his  Shehr-engzz  224 
SACHLI  ZEMAN      (FORTUNE  THE   LONG-HAIRED) 


ZEM^N  the  Long-haired,  'midst  these  lovely  ones  see, 
A  wayward,  wanton  Torment  of  the  world  she.195 
Like  Fortune,  she  nor  clemency  nor  grace  knows  ; 
The  number  of  her  hairs  her  lovers'  tale  shows. 
The  tribute  from  the  realm  of  hearts  her  curls  bore, 
Seduced  me  have  these  locks  that  hang  her  neck  o'er. 


BAN  U    (LADY    WORLD) 

SHE  whom  they  call  Jihan's  a  damsel  moon-faced, 
Who,  like  the  World,  is  faithless,  and  doth  hearts  waste. 
Save  faithlessness,  though  comes  not  from  the   World  aught  ; 
The  heart  from  that  love  of  the  soul  can  pass  not. 
Let  but  her  mind  contented  be  with  poor  me, 
Then  may  the  World  divorced  from  me  for  aye  be. 


LA'LP-^RA    (RUBY-CHIP) 

LA'L-P^IRA  as  her  name  doth  one  of  these  own, 
A  girl  whose  heart  is  hard  as  is  the  flint-stone. 
Her  mouth  in  very  truth's  a  ruby  bright  red, 
Her  teeth  are  pearls,  so  too  the  words  by  her  said. 
Strange  were  it,  if  my  heart  be  by  her  love  slaved? 
For  sooth  her  rubies  bear  the  <(  coral-  prayer  *  graved.225 

(139) 


i4o  OTTOMAN   POEMS 

(WHITE    UNIVERSE) 


AND  Aq-'Alem  they  one  of  yonder  maids  call, 
For  her  the  moon  of  heaven  acteth  jackal. 
Is't  strange  if  through  her  loveliness  she  famed  be? 
A  'white  Rose  on  the  earth  is  yonder  Hurt. 
He  who  with  that  bright  Moon  as  friend  goes, 
A  universe  enjoys  more  fair  than  earth  shows. 


1077   [1666] 

MUSKDDKS 
Fir&shim  seng-i  kh&ra.,  fushishim  shevk-i  qat&d  olsuni 

BE  MINE  for  dress,  the  piercing  thorn ! 226   be   mine 
for  couch,  the  hard,  hard  stone! 
Be  mine   for  home,   grief's  cot!   be  mine  for  bread, 

woe's  tears!   for  work,   pain's  moan! 
Be  all  my  bleeding  frame  with  wounds  of  cruel  foeman's 

hatred  sown ! 
Be  these  rejoiced  in  heart  and  gay  who  make  my  grieving 

soul  to  groan ! 
Be  all  those  glad  by  whom  my  aching  heart  is   tortured 

and  o'erthrown! 

By  those  blest  with  their  wish  who  say  of  me: 
<(  Be  all  his  hopes  cast  prone  !w 

Unfaithfulness  is  aye  the  rule  which  guides  the  Sphere 

that  loves  to  pain, 
The  inborn  nature  of  the  skies  is  but  to  manifest 

disdain  ;114 
Within  the  breasts  of  those  who  pleasure  seek  there  lurks 

some  yearning  vain; 
O  heart,  blest  is  the  practice  of  the  thought   enshrined 

in  this  refrain  : 
Be  all  those  glad  by  whom  my  aching  heart  is  tortured 

and  o'erthrown ! 

Be  those  blest  with  their  wish  who  say  of  me : 
<(  Be  all  hii  hopes  cast  prone!* 

When  time  is  past,   rejoiced  shall  swell  the  hearts  of  all  mj 

comrades  dear;       v 
And  through  their  cruelty — my  choice  —  my  foes  shall 

mourn  in  sorrow  drear. 

(141) 


142  OTTOMAN   POEMS 

Let  all  those  learn  this  verse  of  me  who  hap   to   come   my 

pathway  near, 
And  let  them  from  the  tongues  of  that  green  sward  which 

decks  my  grave  this  hear  : 
Be  all  those  glad  by  whom  my  aching    heart   is    tortured 

and  o'erthrown ! 

Be  those  blest  with  their  wish  who  say  of  me  : 
(<  Be  all  his  hopes  cast  prone !  * 

Within  this  hostel    of  the  world  my  portion  is  the 

tray  of  dole  ; 
My  eye,  the  birthplace  of  the  flame,  refuseth  health's 

most  pleasant  stole ; 
Fatigue,  the  rest  of  my  sad  heart;   anguish,  the  present 

to  my  soul; 
Ne'er  through  Eternity  to  gain  my  longing  is  my 

longing's  goal. 
Be  all  those  glad  by  whom  my  aching  heart  is  tortured 

and  o'erthrown ! 

Be  those  blest  with  their  wish  who  say  of  me  : 
<(  Be  all  his  hopes  cast  prone !  * 

O  Na'ih',  is't  possible  to  change  or  alter  Fate's 

decree  ? 
Annulled  can  ever  be  the  edict  writ  by  pen 

of  Destiny? 
My  heart  is  gladdened  with  this  thought,  that  ne'er 

an  hour's  delay  can  be 
In  whetting  keen  and  sharp  that  axe  of  pain  which  rust 

can  never  see. 
Be  all  those  glad  by  whom  my  aching  heart  is  tortured 

and  o'erthrown ! 

Be  those  blest  with  their  wish  who  say  of  me  : 
w  Be  all  his  hopes  cast  prone !  * 


SIDQ_7 

1115   [1703] 

GAZKL 

-i  bi-'lfah  olanlar  gayri  ihs&n  istemez 


HE  WHO  union  with  the  Lord  gains,  more  delight 
desireth  not  ! 

He  who  looks  on  charms  of  fair  one,  other 

sight  desireth  not. 
Pang  of  love  is  lover's  solace,  eagerly  he  seeks 

there-for, 
Joys  he  in  it,  balm  or  salve  for  yonder  blight, 

desireth  not. 
Paradise  he  longs  not  after,  nor  doth  aught 

beside  regard  ; 
Bower  and  Garden,  Mead,  and  Youth,  and  H#r« 

bright,  desireth  not.  16° 
From  the  hand  of  Power  Unbounded  draineth  he 

the  Wine  of  Life, 
Aye  inebriate  with  Knowledge,  learning's  light, 

desireth  not. 
He  who  loves  the  Lord  is  monarch  of  an  empire, 

such  that  he  — 
King  of  Inward  Mysteries  —  Suleyman's  might, 

desireth  not.  125 
Thou  art  Sultan  of  my  heart,  aye,  soul  of  my  soul 

e'en  art  Thou  ; 
Thou  art  Soul  enow,  and  Sidqz  other  plight 

desireth  not. 

(143) 


(SULTAN  MUSTAFA  II.) 
1115    [1703] 


All&h  !  Rabb-i  Zz-yezal,  ya.   W&hid,  ya.  Zu-'l-Jet&l! 

LLAH  /  Lord  who  liv'st  for  aye!   O  Sole!   O  King  of 

Glory's  Ray  ! 
Monarch  who  ne'er  shalt  pass  away  !  show  Thou  to  us 

Thy  bounties  fair.  , 

In  early  morning  shall  our  cry,  our  wail,  mount  to  Thy 

Throne  on  high  : 
*  Error  and  sin  our  wont,*  we  sigh:  show    Thou  to  us 

Thy  bounties  fair. 
If  cometh  not  from  Thee  Thy  grace,  evil  shall  all  our 

works  deface  ; 
O  Lord  of  Being  and  of  Space  !  show   Thou  to  us 

Thy  bounties  fair. 

Creator  of  security  !   to  Thy  Beloved  greetings  be  !  2* 
These  words  are  in  sincerity  :  show   Thou  to  us 

Thy  bounties  fair. 
Iqbal*  sinned  hath  indeed,  yet  unto  him  Thy  grace 

concede  ; 
Eternal,  Answerer  in  need  !  show   Thou  to  us 

Thy  bounties  fair. 
(144) 


1124  [1712] 
I 

MUKHAMMES 
Bu  gulist&nda  benitn  ichin  ne  gul  ne  shebnem   var 

ALAS  !  nor  dew  nor  smiling  rose  within  this 
mead  is  mine ; 
Within  this    market-place  nor   trade   nor  coin  for 

need  is  mine; 
Nor  more  nor  less ;  nor  power  nor  strength  for  act 

or  deed  is  mine  ; 
Nor  might  nor  eminence;  nor  balm  the  cure  to 

speed  is  mine. 

O  that  I  knew  what  here  I  am,  that  which  indeed 
is  mine! 

Being's  the  bounty  of  the  Lord;  and  Life, 

the  gift  Divine; 
The  Breath,  the  present  of  His  Love ;  and  Speech 

His  Grace's  sign ; 
The  Body  is  the  pile  of  God ;  the  Soul,  His 

Breath  benign  ; 
The  Powers  thereof,  His  Glory's  trust ;  the  Senses, 

His  design. 

O  that  I  knew  what  here  I  am,  that  which 
indeed  is  mine! 

No  work,  no  business  of  my  own  within  this 

mart  have  I; 
All  Being  is  of  Him  alone  —  no  life  apart 

have  I; 
10  (145) 


146  OTTOMAN   POEMS 

No  choice  of  entering  this  world,   or  hence  of 

start  have  I; 
To  cry :  <(  I  am !  I  am !  w  in  truth,  no  power 

of  heart  have  I. 

O  that  I  knew  what  here  I  am,  that  which 
indeed  is  mine ! 

The  Earth  the  carpet  is  of  Power;  the  Sphere, 

the  tent  of  Might ; 
The  Stars,   both  fixed  and  wandering,  are  Glory's 

lamps  of  light; 
The  World's  the  issue  of  the  grace  of  Mercy's 

treasures  bright; 
With  Forms  of  beings  is  the  page  of  Wisdom's 

volume  dight. 
O  that  I  knew  what  here  I  am,  that  which 

indeed  is  mine! 

Being  is  but  a  loan  to  us,  and  Life  in  trust 

we  hold  : 
In  slaves  a  claim  to  Power's  pretension  arrogant 

and  bold ; 
The  servant's  part  is  by  submission  and 

obedience  told ; 
Should  He  :   <(  My  slave  })  address  to  me, 

'twere  favors  manifold. 

O  that  I  knew  what  here  I  am,  that  which 
indeed  is  mine ! 

I'm  poor  and  empty-handed,  but  grace  free  is 

of  the  Lord; 
Nonentity's  my  attribute  :  to  Be  is  of 

the  Lord; 
For  Being  or  Non-being's  rise,  decree  is  of 

the  Lord; 
The  surging  of  the  Seen  and  Unseen's  sea  is  of 

the  Lord. 

O  that  I  knew  what  here  I  am,   that  which 
indeed  is  mine! 


1SMB/  147 

Of  gifts  from  table  of  His  Bounty  is  my 

daily  bread; 
My  breath  is  from  the  Breath  of  God's  benignant 

Mercy  fed; 
My  portion  from  the  favors  of  Almighty 

Power  is  shed ; 
And  my  provision  is  from  Providence's  kitchen 

spread. 

O  that  I  knew  what  here  I  am,  that  which 
indeed  is  mine! 


I  cannot,  unallotted,  take  my  share  from 

wet  or  dry ; 
From  land  or  from  the  ocean,   from  earth  or 

from  the  sky; 
The  silver  or  the  gold  will  come,  by 

Providence  laid  by; 
I  cannot  grasp  aught  other  than  my  fortune 

doth  supply. 

O  that    I   knew    what    here    I    am,   that  which 
indeed  is  mine! 


Creation's  Pen  the  lines  of  billows  of  events 

hath  traced ; 
Th'  illumined  scroll  of  the  Two  Worlds'  Creation's 

Pencil  graced ; 
Their  garments  upon  earth  and  sky,  Creation's  woof 

hath  placed  ; 
Men's  forms  are  pictures  in  Creation's  great 

Shah-Norma  traced.228 

O  that  I  knew  what  here  I  am,  that  which 
indeed  is  mine  ! 

I  cannot  make  the  morning  eve,  or  the  dark 

night  the  day;       , 
I  cannot  turn  the  air  to  fire,  or  dust  to  water's 

spray; 


148  OTTOMAN   POEMS 

I  cannot  bid  the  Sphere  stand  still,  or 

mountain-region    stray ; 
I  cannot  Autumn  turn  by  will  of  mine  to 

lovely  May. 

O  that  I  knew  what  here  I  am,  that  which 
indeed  is  mine ! 

From  out  of  Nothingness  His  mighty  Power 

made  me  appear  ; 
Whilst  in  the  womb  I  lay,  saw  He  to  all  I 

need  for  here ; 
With  kindnesses  concealed  and  manifest  did 

He  me  rear  ; 
With  me  He  drew  a  curtain  o'er  Distinction's 

beauty  dear. 

O  that  I  knew  what  here  I  am,  that  which 
indeed  is  mine  ! 

God's  Revelation  is  Discernment's  Eye, 

if  't  oped  remain ; 
The  picturings  of  worlds  are  all  things  changing 

aye  amain  ; 
The  showing  of  the  Hidden  Treasure  is  this 

raging  main, 
This  work,  this  business  of  the  Lord,  this 

Majesty  made    plain. 

O  that  I  knew  what  here  I  am,  that  which 
indeed  is  mine ! 

Now  void,  now  full,  are  Possibility's  store-houses 

vast; 
This  glass-lined  world's  the  mirror  where  Lights  Twain 

their  phases  cast  ;229 
The  blinded  thing  —  in  scattering  strange  fruits  its 

hours  are  past ; 
Ruined  hath  this  old  Vineyard  been  by  autumn's 

sullen   blast. 

O  that  I  knew  what  here  I  am,  that  which 
indeed  is  mine! 


149 


II 

GAZKL 
As&iyan-i  landehb-i  z&ra  bir  .m  qalmamish 

NE'ER  a  corner  for  the  plaintive  bulbul's  nest 
remaineth  now  ; 

Ne'er  a  palm-tree  'neath  whose  kindly  shade  is  rest 

remaineth  now. 
Day  and  night  some  balm  I've  sought  for,  to  relieve  my 

wounded  heart; 
Ne'er  a  cure  within  the  Heavens'  turquoise  chest 

remaineth  now 
From  its  source,  through  every  country,  searched  have  I 

but  all  in  vain  — 
Ne'er  a  single  drop,  in  mercy's  fountain  blest, 

remaineth  now. 
Empty  earthen  pots  are  reckoned  one  with  jewels 

rich  and  rare ; 
Ne'er  a  scale  in  value's  mart  the  worth  to  test 

remaineth  now. 
'Neath  the  earth  may  now  the  needy  hide  themselves, 

Nabz,  away ; 
Ne'er  a  turret  on  the  fort  of  interest 

remaineth  now. 


1125    [1713] 
I 


T"&  Rabb,  ne  intiha.  sana  zafiir  ne  ibtida. 

OLoRD,  to  thee  is  never  a  beginning, 
neither  end  ; 
Thy  mercy's  ocean,  limitless,   doth  over 

all  extend. 
E'en  though  the  value-  weighing  hand  of  Thine 

unbounded  might 
Hath  wrought    astounding  marvels  that  all  numbering 

transcend, 
Yet,  Lord,  Thou  formedst  Adam  in  the  best  of 

symmetry;  23° 
Thou  worthy  of  Thy  grace  to  make  this  folk  didst 

condescend. 
Unfathomed  and  unsounded  lies  Thy  mercy's 

ocean  vast, 
Which  truly  hath  made  earth  beneath  its  surging 

waves  descend  : 
O  Lord,  could  any  hurt  or  harm  befall  that 

shoreless  deep, 
Did  Thou  a  single  drop  therefrom  to  this 

Thy  servant  send? 
Since  '  Arii  owns  a  Master  kind  in  graciousness 

like  Thee, 
O  Lord,  before  another's  door  were  't  right  for 

him  to  bend? 
O  Lord,  thus  ever  doth  in  joy  Thy  blest  device 

appear  — 
Thy  greatest  glory  from  the  works  of  vileness 

Thou  dost  rear!  231 
(150) 


151 


II 

GAZKL 

Dernn-i  sineya  mihr-i  rukkun  tzb~efken  olmush  dur 

THE  sun  of  love  for  thy  fair  cheek  the  heart's  core 
floods  with  radiant  light; 
The  soul's  most  secret  court  is  filled  with  dazzling  rays 

at  Thy  sweet  sight. 
With  union's  joys  though  blest  one  be,  or  though  with  pangs 

of  absence  torn, 
Are  still  sad  wail  and  plaintive  cry  the  e'er-true  signs  of 

lovelorn  plight. 
Then  welcome,   O  thou  gentlest  breeze,  that  bear'st  to 

him  who  dwells  midst  woe, 
As  news  from  yonder  absent  maid  the  sweet  scent  of  her 

garment  white. 
Of  gilded  halls  no  need  in  sooth  to  libertines  when 

wine  flows  free ; 
Some  ruined  den  beseems  them  more,   like  Jemshzd's 

hut  of  woeful  site.  63 
The  sparks  raised  by  my  passioned  sighs'  and  plainings' 

smoke  are  each  one   quenched; 
For  every  tear  that  rolleth  down  upon  my  robe's  a 

rich  pearl  bright. 
O  'Aril  !  this  poor  captive  bird  hath  grown  to  love  th' 

entangling  snare ; 
For  curling  locks  to  careworn  hearts  afford  a  refuge 

sure  from  fright. 


i5a  OTTOMAN   POEMS 

III 

MUSKDDKS 

Veda'iyya     (Farewell  Poem) 
A  !  Sofa.,  'azm  edip  aldin  dil-i  na.ta.ni  bile 

AH,  MY  Joy  !  thou'rt  gone,  and  my  sad  weeping  heart 
hast  borne  indeed, 
And  my  breast  by  bitter  parting's  raging  fires 

all  worn  indeed; 
Grief  for  thee  in  hundred  pieces  hath  my  raiment  torn 

indeed ; 
Be  thy  escort  on  the  journey  tears  I  weep, 

forlorn  indeed. 
Thou  art  gone,  and  longing  for  thee  makes  my 

heart  to  mourn  indeed ; 

Without  thee,  banquets  where  friends  meet,  all  I  have 
forsworn  indeed. 

Wheresoe'er  thy  footsteps  wander,  be  the  aid  of 

God  thy  guide ; 
As  the  pilot  to  thy  wishes  be  His  grace  aye 

at  thy  side  ; 
Shadow  for  thy  crown  of  glory  may  the  huma's 

wing  provide ;  203 
Ah!  may  ever  joyous,  happy  fortune 

on  thy  path  abide. 
Thou  art  gone,  and  longing  for  thee  makes  my 

heart  to  mourn  indeed ; 

Without  thee,  banquets  where  friends  meet, 
all  I  have  forsworn  indeed. 

O  thou  Source  of  joy  and  quiet  unto  my  poor 

grieving  breast  ! 
Hence  forever  I  with  separation's  fires  am 

sore  opprest ; 
Thou,  Crown  of  my  joy!  my  Treasure! 

mercy  show  to  me  distrest ! 


153 


Now,  my  Lord,  to  whom  shall  Master's  title 

be  by  me   addrest? 
Thou  art  gone,  and  longing  for  thee  makes  my 

heart  to  mourn   indeed; 

Without  thee,  banquets  where  friends  meet, 
all  I  have  forsworn  indeed. 

Ever  in  thy  court  of  service  may  th'  inconstant 

Heavens  be  ! 
I  am  fallen,  soul  and  body,  to  woe's  depths 

by  their  decree  ; 
From  a  kindly  master  like  thee,  merciless, 

they've  sundered  me  ; 
And  into  the  dreary  vale  of  exile  have  they 

driven   thee. 
Thou  art  gone,  and  longing  for  thee  makes  my 

heart  to  mourn  indeed  ; 

Without  thee,  banquets  where  friends  meet, 
all  I  have  forsworn  indeed. 

Though  I'm  far  now  from  the  shadow  of  thy  love, 

O  Cypress  straight, 
Still  my  prayers  I  may  offer  for  thy  happiness 

of  state. 
Think  at  times  upon  thy  servant  '^4rif 

sitting  desolate  ; 
Him  from  near  thy  skirt  of  kindness  taken 

hath  his  darksome  fate. 
Thou  art  gone,  and  longing  for  thee  makes  my 

heart  to  mourn  indeed  ; 

Without  thee,  banquets  where  friends  meet, 
all  I  have  forsworn  indeed. 


NED/M 

1140   [1727  ca.~\ 

GAZKL 

Tahammul  milkini  yiqdin    Hel&gu  Kk&n   mi  sim,   Kafir? 

THE  realm  of  patience  thou'st  laid  waste,  Helagw 232 
hight  art  thou,   Paynim  ?l»° 
O  mercy !  thou'st  the  world  consumed,  a  blazing  light 

art  thou,  Paynim  ? 
A  maiden's  grace,  is  that  thy  grace,  a  conquering  hero's 

voice,  thy  voice ; 
Thou  Woe,  I  know  not,  maid  or  youthful  lord  of  might  art 

thou,  Paynim  ? 
What  mean  those  hidden,  secret  sighs,  and  tears,  and 

saddest  grievings,   pray  ? 
The  wailing  lover  of  some  wanton  gay  and  bright, 

art  thou,  Paynim? 
Why  on  the  polished  mirror  dost  thou  thus  so  frequent 

cast  thine  eyes  ? 
Bewildered  and  distraught  at  thine  own  beauty's  sight 

art  thou,  Paynim  ? 
I've  heard  that  poor  Nedz'm  hath  been  by  cruel  Paynim 

captive  ta'en  — 
That  fierce  oppressor  of  the  Faith,  and  foe  of  right, 

art  thou,  Paynim? 
(i54) 


SABCLAT/ 

(SULTAN   MAHMf/D   I.) 

1168  [1754] 
GAZEL 

Kerem-bakhsh  olmaz,    ey  dil,  h&lini  ja.na.na   su-weylersen 

O   HEART  !    e'en    though    thou  tell'st  thy  woes,  yon  maid 
will  ne'er  compassion  deign  : 

When  constancy  and  troth  thou  seek'st,  dost  thou 

address  the  barren  plain? 
The  student  of  the  course  of  tyranny  is  yonder 

wanton  wild ; 
To  look  for  faith  or  grace  from  her  who  enmity 

desires  is  vain. 
That  paynim  glance  doth  hold  in  hand  a  dagger  sharp 

of  point  and  keen ; 
And  yet,  O  babe,  my  heart,  thou  dost  to  thousands 

sing  her  praises'   strain. 
In  hope  that  it  would  yield  the  soul  a  breath  of 

favor's  odor  sweet, 
How  yonder  rosebud-mouth  effaceth  all,  thou  dost 

thereto  explain. 
O  Sabqatz,  what  wondrous  science  hath  thy  magic 

talent  learnt, 
That  thou  right  royally  inditeet  every  joyous, 

glad  refrain? 

(i55) 


BEL/G 
1170  [1756  ca.] 

I 
GAZEL 

Ol  al  fes  k&kul  uzre  berg-i  gul  dur  sunbul  ustuna 

AROSE  LEAF  o'er  the  spikenard  fall'n  —  the  red  fes  lies 
on  her  dark  hair ;  233 
The  perspiration  studs  her  cheeks  —  the  dew-drops 

which    the  roses  wear.147 
Since  mirrored  in  th'  o'erflowing  bowl  did  yon  cup-bearer's 

chin  beam  bright, 
My  eyes  were  fixed  upon  that  wine,  like  bubbles  which 

that  wine  did  bear. 
Behold  thou,  then,  her  braided  locks,  as  musk,  all  dark  and 

sweet  perfumed ; 
Like  ambergris,  her  tresses  shed  abroad  an  odor  rich 

and  rare. 
Those  who  set  forth  on  Mystic  Path  behind  soon  leave  the 

earth-born  love ; 
The  Bridge,  as  home,   within  this  world  of  ours, 

no  man  hath  taken  e'er.234 
Now,  O  Beh'g,  that  steed,  thy  reed,  doth  caracole 

across  this  page ; 
Thy  finger-points,  the  Hayder  bold  whom  that  Duldul 

doth  onward  bear.235 
(156) 


BEL7G  is? 


II 

GAZEL 

ON  A  DANCING-GIRL 
El  aldiqja   o  chengi  guzeli   c&a.r#ara 

WHEN  that  beauty  of  a  dancing-girl  her  castanets 
hath  ta'en, 
Should  the  sun  and  moon  behold  her,  jealous, 

each  were  rent  in   twain. 
Patience  from  my  soul  is  banished  when  beginneth 

she  to  dance  ; 
Leaps  with  her  my  heart ;  my  eyesight,   faltering, 

is  like  to  wane. 
When  the  moon  looks  down  upon  her,  must  it  not  be 

seared  of  heart? 
Yonder  moon-fair  one  her  crimson  skirt  for  halo 

bright  hath  ta'en. 
In  her  motions  and  her  pausings  what  varieties 

of  grace ! 
While  her  lovely  frame  doth  tremble,   like  to 

quicksilver,   amain !  236 
Full  delighted  at  her  motions,  loud  as  thunder 

roars  the  drum ; 
Beats  its  breast  the  tambourine,  its  bells  commence  to 

mourn  and  plain. 
When  she  cometh,   like  a  fairy,  begging  money 

from  the  crowd, 
In  her  tambourine,   had  one  a  hundred  lives, 

he'd  cast  them  fain. 
Deck  her  out  on  gala-tdays,  and  take  her  by 

the  hand,  Belz'g; 
Yonder  spark-like  Idol  hath  consumed  my  soul 

with  fiery  pain.237 


SAMS 
1170  [1756  ca.] 

I 
GAZEL 

Mevj-kh\z  oldu  yene   eshk-i   terim    seyl  gibi 

SURGE  in  waves  my  streaming  tears,  e'en  like    a    rushing 
flood,  once  mo ; 
From  their  smallest  drop,  the  sources  of  a  hundred 

Niles  would  flow. 
Overwhelm  the  raging  billows  of  my  tears  the  heart's 

frail  barque, 
Though  the  mem'ry  of  her  cheek,   like  to  the  beacons 

radiance  throw. 
What  my  pen  writes  down  appeareth,   in  the  eyes 

of  brutish  men, 
Like  the  needle  to  the  blinded,  of  discerning  clear 

the  foe.238 
One  the  beggar's  bowl  would  be  with  the  tiara  of 

the  King, 
Were  it  but  reversed,   for  then  like  to  the  royal  crown 

'twould  show.23^ 
Though  it  be  coarse  as  a  rush-mat,   is  that  soul  the 

seat  of  grace, 
Which  doth,   like  the  wattle-basket,   freely  bread  to 

guests  bestow. 
"  Yonder  hair- waist  I  encircled, *  did  the  braggart 

rival  say ; 
But  her   waist  exists  not  —  hair-like  slight  his  boasting's 

truth  doth  show.240 
(158) 


159 


O  thou  vain  one!  see,   what  anguish  to  the  head  of 

Nimrod  brought 
Was  by  one  gnat's  sting,  which  like  to  trunk  of 

elephant  did  grow.2*1 
Sanu,  it  is  thy  intention  to  compare  to  Heaven's 

bowers 
These  thy  distichs  eight,   with  shining  flowers  of 

rhetoric  that  glow.242 


160  OTTOMAN   POEMS 


II 
FRAGMENT 

Medli-i   Kevserle  gunul  sanma  dusker   me'mvLla 

THINK  not  that  with    Keyset's  praises  hearts  become 
of  joy  full; 50 
Preacher,  rather   doth  the  tale  of  mouth  and 

kiss  the  soul  rule. 
Thinking  of  her  rubies  red,   whene'er  I  drink 

tobacco, 
The  nargila's  a  flask  of  wine,  the  pipe-bowl  is  a 

sumbul.243 
Know  how  holy  is  her  land :  —  who  dwelleth  in 

Edirna, 

Ere  he  to  the  Ka'ba  bends,  doth  turn  him  to 
Istambul.24* 


NEV-RES 
1175   [1761  ca.] 
GAZKL 

Devr-i  la'linda  bash   egmem  bade'-i  gul-fama  ben 

NEAR  thy  rubies  ne'er  I    bow  my  head  to  wine  of 
rosy  hue; 
'Neath  the  shadow  of  the  Magian  priest,  I  ne'er 

the  glass  eschew.245 
Now  it  makes  me  exile's  prisoner,  now  the  comrade 

close  of  pain  — 
What  to  do  I  know  not,   what  with  this  sad  fate  of 

mine  to  do ! 
E'en  the  Home  of  Peace  it  turneth  to  the  cot  of  woe 

for  me, 
Through  the  longing  for  thy  dusky  mole,  when  Sham 

I  journey  through.246 
Since  'tis  needful  midst  the  people  that  I  still  reside 

and  move, 
If  the  days  ne'er  suit  me,   I  shall  suit  myself  the 

days  unto. 
Never  unto  Nev-res,  never,  will  thy  sweet 

words  bitter  seem ; 
Speak  thou,   then,   for  I'm  contented  all  reproach 

to  hearken- to. 
it  (161) 


SH^4H7N   GIR^Y 

(KH^4N    OF    THE    CRIMEA) 

1205     [1789] 

GAZBL  2*7 

2~a.r  gelip  'a^htqin  menzilini  qilsa  /ay 

IF  THE  fair  one  would  but  come  in  her  lover's 
home  to  stay, 
Were  his  eyes  not  filled  with  light  by  her  face 

as  bright  as  day? 
Or  would  yonder  Moon  but  dart  that  her  glance  as 

dagger  keen, 
And  my  rival's  bosom  pierce  that,  like  flute, 

he  breathe  dismay!  248 
Fly  not  this  poor  one,  Moon-face,   who  hath  drunken 

deep   of  woe ; 
Order  not  that  I  be  burned  in  the  fire  of  love, 

I  pray. 
If  the  grace  of  God  the  Lord  to  a  slave 

should  aider  be, 
Though  he  lack  a  single  groat  he'll  the  Sphere 

as  monarch  sway. 
Rush  the  tear-drops  from  my  eyes  through  their 

longing  for  thy  face  ;  — 
By  its  power  thy  sun-like  face  doth  the  dew-drops 

steal  away.249 
By  the  Mystic  Pathway's  side,  if  thou'rt  wise, 

a  hostel  build, 

For  the  travelers  of  Love,  as  a  caravanseray. 
Proud  and  noble  mistress  mine,  with  those  eyebrows 

and  those  eyes, 
Where  a  need  of  bow  and  shaft  this  thy  lover 

fond  to  slay? 
(162) 


SH^4H/N    GIR^Y  163 

Thou  hast  loosed  thy  tresses  dark,  o'er  thy  day-face 

spread  a  veil  — 
Or  in  House  of  Scorpio  is  the  Moon 

eclipsed,  say  ? 144 
Should  my  loved  one  pierce  my  breast, 

right  contented  _ sooth  were  I; 
Only  worthy  of  her  grace  let  that 

Moon-face  me  survey. 
Write,  O  pen,  that  I  desire,  like  the 

salamander,  fire ; 
Thus  declare,  should  she  it  will,  yonder 

lovely  Queen  Humay.260 
Is  it  then  the  shining  moon  that  the 

world  doth  silver  o'er, 
Or  the  radiance  of  thy  face  that  doth 

earth  in  light  array? 
Did  the  caviller  dispute  and  thy 

sun-bright  face  decry, 
Would  thy  lover,  like  the  mote, 

to  that  fool  the  truth  convey.251 
Lovers  surely  for  their  loves  do 

their  talents  aye  employ ; 
Is  it  thine  thy  tribute  now  to  present, 

Shahm  Giray? 


1210   [1795] 

I 

From  his  Husn  u  'Ishq,   (<  Beauty  and  Love)>26a 

THE  SONG  OF  LOVE'S  NURSE 

Ey  m&h  uy  uy  ki  bu  sheb 

OMOON  !   sleep,   sleep  thou,   for  this  night 
The  cry  w  O  Lord  !  )J  upon  thine  ear  shall  smite ; 
Though  formed,   its  purpose  is  yet  hid  from  sight, 
It  shall  be  seen  —  the  stars'   potential  might. 
Thou'lt  be  the  roast  upon  the  spit  of  pain  ! 

O  Rosebud  !   sleep  thou  then  this  little  while ; 
The  Sphere's  design  against  thee  sooth  is  vile, 
For  pitiless  is  it  and  strong  in  guile ; 
Ah  !   never  trust  it,  even  though  it  smile. 

Thou'lt  have,  I  fear  me,  reason  oft  to  plain! 

O  Love's  Narcissus  !   sleep  the  sleep  of  peace! 
Fall  at  the  skirt  of  Fate  and  beg  surcease ; 
Thy  soul's  eye  ope  —  and,  lo!  thy  fears  increase! 
Guard  thee  against  the  end  of  woe,  nor  cease. 
Thou'lt  be  as  plaything  by  Misfortune  ta'en  ! 

Come,  in  the  cradle  of  repose  thee  rest 
A  few  short  nights,  by  sorrow  undistrest; 
Bid  care  and  all  it  brings  leave  thee  unprest ; 
In  place  of  milk,  blood  shall  be  thy  bequest. 
Thou'lt  need  the  goblet  of  despite  to  drain  ! 
(164) 


G^LIB  165 

O  Jasmine-breast  !   within  the  cradle  lie; 
Thus  will  not  long  remain  the  rolling  Sky:/ 
The  stars  do  not  aye  in  one  circle  hie; 
See  what  they'll  do  to  thee,  Love,  by-and-by. 
Thou'lt  be  the  mill  on  sorrow's  torrent's  train ! 

From  slumber  do  not  thou  thine  eyelids  keep, 
If  aid  can  reach  thee,  it  will  come  through  sleep; 
The  Sphere  will  give  a  draught  of  poison  deep, 
Then  will  thy  work,  like  Galib's,  be  to  weep. 
Thou'lt  be  the  rebeck  at  the  feast  of  pain! 


166  OTTOMAN   POEMS 


II 

From  the  Same 
LOVE'S   SONG 

Ey  khosh  o  zem&n  ki  dil  olup  shad 

SWEET  were  those  moments  when  the  heart  was  gay, 
And  the  soul's  realm,  the  court  of  joy's  array ; 
Thoughts  of  those  times  now  o'er  my  spirit  stray, 
For  love  of  God !   O  Heavens !   mercy !   pray  ! 
The  pride  of  both  the  day  and  night  was  I. 

A  garden  fair  was  that  my  soul's  repose ; 
Like  those  in  Eden's  bower,  its  every  rose; 
But  parting  comes  and  all  of  that  o'erthrows, 
Now  in  my  heart  nought  but  its  mem'ry  glows. 
With  honor's  wine  then  drunken  quite  was  I. 

Then  to  the  Sphere  I  never  uttered  prayer;114 
Feast,  music,  and  delight  —  all  mine  —  were  there; 
Moved  ever  by  my  side  my  Cypress  fair; 
Unopened  then  my  secret  and  despair. 
The  envy  of  the  springtide  bright  was  I. 

Now  before  grief  and  woe  I'm  fallen  prone ; 
Like  nightingale  in  early  spring,   I  moan. 
Through  fire  I've  past  and  to  the  shore  have  flown. 
And,  like  the  shattered  glass,  to  earth  am  thrown. 
Sipping  the  wine,  the  fair's  despite,   was  I. 

Ah  me !  alas !  those  happy  hours  are  past ; 
The  spring  is  past ;  the  rose,  the  flowers,  are  past ; 
The  smiles  of  her  who  graced  the  bowers  are  past ; 
The  thirsty  soul  remains,  the  showers  are  past. 
Drinking  with  her  the  wine  so  bright  was  I. 


GALIB  167 

I  with  my  loved  one  feast  and  banquet  made, 
Wild  as  the  whirlpool  then  I  romped  and  played; 
At  wine-feasts  I  myself  in  light  arrayed, 
And  with  my  songs  the  nightingales  dismayed. 
Like  Galib,  blest  with  all  delight  was  I. 


FITNET   KH^4NIM 
1215    [1800  ca.~\ 

I 
GAZEL 

Khiy&l-i  gamzasini  sineda  nih&n  buldum 

THE  mem'ry  of  his  glance  hid  in  my  breast  deep 
laid  I  found ; 
It  seemed  as  though  a  fawn  within  the  lion's 

glade  I  found. 
O  heart!   a  parallel  unto  those  eyebrows  and  that 

glance, 
In  Rustem's199  deadly  bow  and  Qahraman's  m  bright 

blade  I  found. 
When,  through  my  grieving  at  thine  absence, 

dead  of  woe  was  I, 
That  mem'ry  of  thy  rubies'  kiss  new  life  conveyed 

I  found. 
My  heart's  wound,  through  the  beauty  of  the 

spring  of  love  for  thee, 
By  turns,  rose,  tulip,  Judas-tree  of  crimson  shade, 

I  found. »2 
Is't  strange,   O  Fitnet,  if  my  soul  around  do 

scatter  gems? 
Within  the  ink-horn's  vault  a  hidden  treasure 

laid  I  found. 
068) 


FITNET   KIL4NIM  169 


II 

MUSKDDES 
Sah&b-i  nev-bah&r  la.lema  guher-nis&r  oldu 

THE  fresh  spring    clouds  across    all  earth    their  glistening 
pearls  profuse  now  sow; 
The  flowers,   too,   all   appearing,  forth  the   radiance  of 

their  beauty  show. 
Of  mirth  and  joy  'tis  now  the  time,  the  hour  to  wander 

to  and  fro; 
The  palm-tree  o'er  the  fair  ones'   picnic  gay  its  grateful 

shade   doth  throw. 
O  Liege,   come   forth !  from  end  to  end  with  verdure 

doth  the  whole  earth  glow; 

'Tis  springtide  now  again,  once    more  the  tulips  and  the 
roses  blow. 

Behold  the  roses,  how    they  shine,  e'en    like  the    cheeks  of 

maids  most  fair; 
The  fresh-sprung  hyacinth  shows  like  to  beauties'   dark, 

sweet,  musky  hair. 
The  loved  one's  form  behold,   like  cypress  which  the 

streamlet's  bank  doth  bear;263 
In  sooth,  each  side  for  soul  and  heart  doth   some  delightful 

joy  prepare. 
O  Liege,  come  forth !   from  end  to  end  with  verdure 

doth  the  whole  earth  glow; 

'Tis  springtide  now  again,  once  more  the  tulips  and 
the  roses  blow. 

The  parterre's  flowers  have  all  bloomed  forth,  the  roses, 

sweetly  smiling,   shine; 
On  every  side  lorn  nightingales,   in  plaintive  notes 

discoursing,    pine; 


i;o  OTTOMAN  POEMS 

How  fair,   carnation  and  wallflower  the  borders  of  the 

garden  line! 
The  long-haired  hyacinth  and    jasmine  both  around  the 

cypress  twine. 
O  Liege,  come  forth !   from  end  to  end  with  verdure 

doth  the  whole  earth  glow; 

'Tis  springtide  now  again,  once  more  the  tulips  and 
the  roses  blow. 

Arise,  my  Prince!   the  garden's  court  hath  wondrous 

joys  in  fair  array; 
O  hark,  there  midst  the  rose's  boughs,  the  wailing 

nightingale's  fond  lay ; 
Thy  bright  cheek  show  the  new-oped  rose  and  make  it  blush 

with  shamed  dismay; 
With  graceful  air  come  then,  thy  cypress-mien  before  the 

mead  display. 
O  Liege,  come  forth !   from  end  to  end  with  verdure 

doth  the  whole  earth  glow; 

'Tis  springtide  now    again,  once  more  the  tulips  and  the 
roses  blow. 

Enow!   thy  lovers  pain  no  more,   of  faithful  plight  the 

days  are  now; 
On  streamlet's  banks,  of  mirth  and  joy  and  gay  delight  the 

day  are  now; 
In  hand  then  take  the   heart's    dear  joy,  the    goblet  bright, 

its  days  are  now ; 
O  Fitnet,  come,  and  these  thy  verses  sweet  recite, 

their  days  are  now. 
O  Liege,   come  forth !   from  end  to  end  with  verdure  doth 

the  whole  earth  glow; 

'Tis  springtide  now  again,   once  more  the  tulips  and 
the  roses  blow. 


ILH^M/ 

(SULTAN    SEL/M    III.) 

X"' 
1222     [1807] 

I 

GAZEL 

u  sheb  didelerim  derdin  He  qan  aglar 

AH!  THROUGH  grief  for  thee  mine  eyes  blood,  every  night 
and  day,  weep  ; 
Those  who  know  my  bitter   sorrow's    secret  pang  for 

aye  weep. 
When  they  see  me  blood-besmear6d  by  my  bosom's  red 

wound, 
Pitying  my  doleful  plight,  the  garden's  flowerets 

gay  weep.92 
When  he  viewed  my  bleeding  heart,  ruth  had  yon 

physician ; 
Quoth  he  :   (<  Doth  the  cure  for  thee,   Sick  of  love-dismay, 

weep.* 
Yet  to  me  doth  yonder  Torment  of  the  Soul  no 

grace  show ; 
For  my  plight  do  all  my  friends,   who  me  thus  sick 

survey,   weep. 
E'en  as  gazeth  on  thy  cheek,  amidst  his 

woes,  Ilhamz, 
Though  his  face  may  smiling  be,  his  heart  doth 

blood  alway  weep. 


i;2  OTTOMAN   POEMS 


II 

GAZEL 
B&g-i  falem  ichre  zzhirda  sofa  dir  saltanat 

MIDST  the  orchard  of  the  world  though  empire  may 
appear  delight, 
Still,  if   thou  wouldst  view  it  closely,  empire  is  but 

ceaseless  fight. 
Vain  let  no  one  be  who  ruleth  kingdoms  in  these 

woeful  days ; 
If  in  justice  lie  thy  pleasure  —  then  is  empire  truly 

right. 
Reacheth  e'en  one  lover  union  in  the  space  of  thousand 

years  ? 
Let  whoever  sees  it  envy  —  empire  is  of  faithless 

plight. 
Think,  O  heart,  alas!   the  revolutions  of  the  rolling 

Sphere ! 
If  at  times  'tis  joy,  far  oftener  empire  bringeth 

dire  affright. 
Do  not  envy,  do  not  covet,  then,  the  Kingship 

of  the  world ; 
O!  take  heed,  Ilharm,  empire  bides  not,  swift 

indeed  its  flight. 


Fv4ZIL    BEG 

1225   [1810] 

I 

GAZKL 
Giydi  fhejer  '•interne  siyaJi   u   sefid  u  surkh 

THE  trees  and  flowers  their  turbans  roll  of  black  and 
white  and  red ; 
The  garden  fastens  on  its  stole  of  black  and    white 

and  red. 
With  sable  eve  and  ermine  dawn  and  fes  of  sunset 

bright, 
The  sky  doth  all  its  pomp  unroll  of  black  and  white 

and  red. 
The  pupils  of  my  eyes  are  points  upon  the  gleaming 

page, 
With  tears  of  blood  I've  writ  a  scroll  of  black  and 

white  and  red.254 
The  youthful  Magian's245  locks  and  breast  were 

shadowed  in  the  wine  ; 
It  seemed  as  though  they  filled  the  bowl  with  black 

and  white  and  red. 

Is't  ambergris,  or  is  it  pearl,  or  coral,  Fazil,   say, 
This  poesy  thy  reed  doth  troll,  of  black  and  white 
and  red  ?  2" 


174  OTTOMAN   POEMS 

II 

From  the  Zenan-Nama  2B6 

DESCRIPTION  OF  CIRCASSIAN  WOMEN 

Ey  rukki  dide-rub&-yi  khurshid 

AH !   HER  cheek  doth  rob  the  fair  sun  of  its  sight, 
And  her  sweet  grace  envy  brings  to  Venus  bright. 
Like  to  moons  are  the  Circassian  damsels  fair ; 
Whatsoe'er  the  lover  seeks  he  findeth  there. 
Like  to  tall  palm-trees  their  slender  forms  in  grace, 
Or  a  ladder  to  the  clear  moon  of  the  face. 
With  the  two  feet  of  the  eyes  doth  one  ascend, 
But  the  vision  of  the  mind  too  one  must  bend. 
Since  their  lips  and  cheeks  are  taverns  of  wine, 
Is  it  strange  their  eyes  inebriate  should  shine? 
Since  like  rubies  are  created  their  two  lips, 
Doubly  seared  the  lover's  heart,  like  the  tulip's.257 
Since  their  bodies  are  distilled  from  moon  and  sun, 
How  an  equal  to  their  pure  frame  find  can  one? 
Though  they  lovelier  than  Georgians  may  be, 
Still  in  Georgians  one  will  great  attractions  see. 
Closely  curtained  sit  they  all  in  virtue's  place; 
Pure  of  skirt  is  ever  this  unrivaled  race ;  2B8 
Pure  and  free  from  stain  is  every  act  of  theirs  ; 
Not  a  soil  the  vestment  of  their  honor  bears  ; 
Marked  with  chastity  indeed,  of  noble  heart, 
Ever  seeking  to  fulfill  the  righteous  part ; 
Bright  with  bounty  and  fidelity  and  sense, 
How  that  blessed  nature  glows  with  light  intense ! 
Think  not  with  this  race  that  any  can  compare 
Upon  earth,  unless  it  be  the  Georgian  fair. 


F^ZIL   BEG  175 

III 

From  the  Same 
DESCRIPTION  OF  GREEK  WOMEN  259 

By  kelisa-yi  bela.  n&qusi 

OH!   THOU  the  Bell  upon  the  church  of  pain! 
Thou  the  Pride  of  all  the  Messianic  train !  26<> 
Source  of  being !   if  a  mistress  thou  should  seek, 
Then,  I  pray  thee,  let  thy  loved  one  be  a  Greek. 
Unto  her  the  fancies  of  the  joyous  bend, 
For  there's  leave  to  woo  the  Grecian  girl,  my  friend.261 
Caskets  of  coquetry  are  the  Grecian  maids, 
And  their  grace  the  rest  of  womankind  degrades. 
What  that  slender  waist  so  delicate  and  slight ! 
What  those  gentle  words  the  sweet  tongue  doth  indite  ! 
What  those  blandishments,  that  heart-attracting  talk  ! 
What  that  elegance,  that  heart-attracting  walk ! 
What  that  figure,  as  the  cypress  tall  and  free — 
In  the  park  of  God's  creation  a  young  tree  ! 
What  those  attitudes,  those  motions,   wondrous  fair  ! 
What  that  glance  inebriate  that  showeth  there  ! 
Given  those  disdainful  airs  to  her  alone, 
And  her  legacy  that  accent  and  that  tone. 
All  those  letters  on  her  sweet  tongue's  tip  are  rolled, 
And  those  words  with  many  graces  she'll  unfold ; 
Strung  the  regal  pearls  of  her  enchanting  speech, 
Pounded  seem  they  when  her    gentle  mouth  they  reach ; 
To  her  tongue  if  come  a  letter  harsh  to  say, 
Then  her  sweet  mouth  causeth  it  to  melt  away; 
Her  mouth  would  fain  the  words  conserve  in  sooth, 
For  her  mouth  is  speech-conserves  in  very  truth ; a62 
Speaking  parrots  are  they  surely  one  and  all,115 
To  their  portion  doth  the  birdies'  language  fall.263 
With  a  thousand  graces  saith  her  rosebud-lip  : 
<(  Zee  vine,   O  noble  Lord,  vill  zou  no  sip ; 26* 


176  OTTOMAN   POEMS 

When  thy  glass  is  empty,  fill  it  full  again, 

To  my  love  drink,   O  my  Pasha,   drink  amain !  * 265 

To  the  soul  add  life  her  ways  and  charms  so  dear, 

Surely  thus  is  it  a  mistress  should  appear. 

E'en  the  old  misogynist   would  conquered  be, 

Saw  he  yonder  maid,   uxorious  were  he. 

So  symmetrical  the  line  her  body  shows, 

One  would  it  a  balanced   hemistich  suppose. 

Other  women  seek  to  imitate  her  grace, 

As  their  pride  and  frontispiece  she  holds  her  place. 

What  that  figure  tall,  and  what  that  graceful  mien  ! 

Fair-proportioned  is  her  body  ever  seen. 

Moving  lithely,  she  from  side  to  side  will  turn, 

That  the  hearts  of  all  her  lovers  she  may  burn. 

That  cap  which  on  one  side  she  gaily  wears  ; 

That  jaunty  step ;  those  joyous  heedless  airs ; 

Those  motions  —  they  are  just  what  me  delight ; 

And  her  tripping  on  two  toes  —  how  fair  a  sight! 

'Twere  as  though  with  fire  her  pathway  were  inlaid,266 

That  would  burn  the  feet  of  yonder  moon-like  maid. 

Thou  wouldst  deem  her  lovers'  hearts  upon  her  way, 

Burning  with  their  love  for  her,  all  scattered  lay. 

***** 
Is't  herself  they  call  «  Qpqona  »  let  us  see  ?  267 
Or  her  locks? — how  wondrous  sweet  their  odors  bet 
As  the  sash  trails  on  the  ground  beneath  thy  feet, 
So  will  she  thy  feet  salute   with  kisses  sweet. 
Misbeliever,  thou  dost  sense  steal  from  the  heart; 
Torment  thou  —  I  know  not  what  a  Woe  thou  art ; 
Know  not  I  if  thou  be  huri  or  per?,268 
Know  not  I  of  Mary  what  is  found  in  thee ; 
Art  thou  Mary's  child  of  'Imran's,   rosebud  bright  ?  269 
Of  the  dwelling  of  the  monks  art  thou  the  light  ? 
Envy  bearing  to  her  hinna-crimsoned  hand, 
Doth  the  red  egg  covered  o'er  with  blushes  stand.270 
With  the  Greek  cannot   thy  genus  e'er  compare, 
Deem  I,  be  thou  genius  or  hurt  fair !  271 


WASIF 

1236    [1820  ca.~\ 

/"•' 
I 

TERJ/'-BEND272 

ON  THE  DKFKAT  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  EGYPT  BY  THE 
QAPUDAN  HUSEYN  PASHA 

Ey  jedel-g&h-i  jihv.nin  N\rem-i  jeng-averi  ! 

OTHOU  Nzrem,  battle- waging,  of  the  world's  fierce 
field  of  fight!  273 
O  thou  Sam,  fell  dragon-visaged,  of  the  age's    plain 

of  might! 
Thou  art  he  in  whom  the  favors  of  the  Lord  Most 

High  unite ; 
Earth  and  ocean  thou  hast  conquered,   waging  war  on 

left  and  right ! 
Gold,  in  Islam's  cause,   thou  pouredst  like  to  water 

down  a  height; 
Legions  like  the  Nile  on  Egypt's  shore  thou  madest 

to  alight. 
With  thy  sabre's  blow  right  fiercely  thou  the  foeman's 

head  didst  smite ; 
Giddy  made  thy  sword  the  misbelievers'  chieftains  with 

affright.  ^ 

Midst  the  earth's  oak-grove  a  valiant  lion  like  to  thee 

in  might, 
Since  the  days  of  Rustem,  ne'er  hath  passed  beneath  the 

Heavens'  sight. 
(< Bravo!   Champion  of  the  Epoch!   rending  ranks  in 

serried  fight! 
O'er  the   'Arsh  h^ng  now  thou  sabre,  sparkling  like  the 

Pleiads  bright !»  274 
12  (177) 


i;8  OTTOMAN   POEMS 

Lion !   Alexander !  53   had  he  seen  that  battle  thou 

didst  gain, 
Crown  and  throne  to  thee  to  offer  Key-Qubad 

were  surely  fain ! 
O  most  noble !   thou  a  Vezz'r  to  such  fame  that 

dost  attain, 
That  the  God  of  Hosts  did  surely  Lord  of  Fortune 

thee  ordain! 
Like  to  flame,   the  fiery  blast  scathed  foemen's  lives, 

it  blazed  amain ; 
Threw'st  thou,  cinder-like,   the  misbelievers'  ashes 

o'er  the   plain. 
<(  Conqueror  of  the  Nations'   Mother  *  as  thy  title 

should  be  ta'en  :  275 
Since  thou'st  saved  the  Nations'  Mother,  all  the 

nations  joy  again. 
Wishing  long  ago,   'twould  seem,  to  sing  thy  splendid 

glory's  strain, 
Nef'z  wrote  for  thee  this  couplet  —  for  thy  deeds  a 

fit  refrain: 276 

"Bravo!   Champion  of  the  Epoch!   rending  ranks  in 

serried  fight ! 
O'er  the  'Arsh  hang  now  thy  sabre,   sparkling  like  the 

Pleiads  bright!" 

When  the  misbelieving  Frenchman  sudden  swooped 

on  Egypt's  land, 
Thither  was  the  army's  leader  sent  by  the  Great  King's 

command : 
But  at  length  o'erthrown  and  vanquished  by  the  foe 

his  luckless  band, 
Then  thou  wentest  and  the  vile  foe  scatter' dst  wide  on 

every  hand ; 
Then,  when  they  thy  lightning-flashing,   life-consuming 

cannon  scanned, 
Knew  the  hell-doomed  misbelievers  vain  were  all  things 

they  had  planned. 
Hundred  vezirs.  joy-attended,  countless  foemen  did 

withstand ; 


W^SIF  179 

Day  and  night,  three  years  the  misbelievers  fought  they 

brand  to  brand ; 
Worn  and  wretched  fell  those  at  thy  feet,  and  quarter 

did  demand  : 
It  beseems  thee,    howsoever  high  in  glory  thou  mayst 

stand! 
(( Bravo!   Champion  of  the  Epoch!   rending  r>nks  in 

serried  fight! 

O'er  the   'Arsh  hang  now  thy  sabre,   sparkling  like  the 
Pleiads  bright!" 

Through  this  joy  beneath  thy  shade  the  world  doth 

its  desires    behold  ; 
With  thy  praises  eloquent  the  tongues  of  all,  both 

young  and  old. 
Thou  to  Faith  and  Empire  then  didst  render 

services  untold 
Hurling  down  to  earth  the  foeman's  house  in  one  assault 

right  bold  ! 
O  Vezz'r !   Jem-high !   think  not  that  flattery  my  words 

enfold;— 277 

Though  a  poet,  not  with  false  or  vaunting  boasts  I've 

thee  extolled. 
Midst  the  fight  for  Egypt's  conquest  firm  in  stirrup 

was  thy  hold, 
Under  thy  Egyptian  charger  trod'st  thou  foemen  like  the 

mould.278 
From  the  handle  of  thy  sword,  like  water,  down  the 

red  blood  rolled ; 
Thou  the  foe  mad'st  turn  his  face,  mill-like,  in  terror 

uncontrolled.  £ 

<(  Bravo  !   Champion  of  the  Epoch  !   rending  ranks  in 

serried  fight ! 

O'er  the  'Arsh  hang  now  thy  sabre,  sparkling  like  the 
Pleiads  bright !  » 

Those  who  sing  thy  glories,  like  to  Wasif,  wildered 

aye  must  be ;  , 
Sayeth  Wasif :   (<  J^one  on  earth  like  Huseyn  Pasha 

I  shall  see.* 


i8o  OTTOMAN   POEMS 

If  there  be  who  has  in  vision  seen  a  peerless 

one  like  thee, 
As  a  dream  all  void  of  meaning,  let  him  it  relate 

to  me. 
Cannon-ball  like,  'gainst  the  foe  thou  threw'st  thyself 

from  terror  free  ; 
Like  the  winter  blast  thou  mad'st  the  foeman 

shake  in  front  of  thee. 
Claim  to  manliness  forsaking,  even  as  the  blind 

was  he, 
Sword  in  hand  despairing  stood  he,  like  to  one  who 

nought  can  see  ; 
Quick  his  throat  thou  seizedst,  like  the  dragon 

direful  in  his  glee, 
'Neath  thy  sabre's  wave  thou  drown'dst  the  misbeliever, 

like  the  sea! 
<(  Bravo !   Champion  of  the  Epoch !   rending  ranks   in 

serried  fight ! 

O'er  the  'Arsh  hang  now  thy  sabre,  sparkling  like  the 
Pleiads  bright !  » 


O 


W^SIF  181 

II 
SHARQ/"9 

Ey  goncha'-i  b&g-i  me*"&.m 

S 

ROSEBUD  of  joy's  flowery  lea! 
O  graceful  one  with  step  so  free ! 
If  thou  wilt  yield  thee  not  to  me, 
On  earth  the  glass  of  mirth  and  glee 
To  me's  forbid,  apart  from  thee. 


Behold  my  breast,  by  guile  unprest, 
Is't  not  mid  thousand  treasures  best? 
Until  thou  tak'st  me  to  thy  breast, 
On  earth  the  glass  of  mirth  and  glee 
To  me's  forbid,  apart  from  thee. 

O  Rose-leaf  fresh!  concealed  from  sight 
With  thee  till  morn  a  livelong  night 
If  I  may  not  enjoy  delight, 

On  earth  the  glass  of  mirth  and  glee 
To  me's  forbid,  apart  from  thee. 

Yearning  for  union  fills  my  soul, 
Patience  and  peace  have  no  control ; 
O  wanton  one!   my  longing's  goal! 
On  earth  the  glass  of  mirth  and  glee 
To  me's  forbid   apart  from  thee. 

Seek,  Wasif,  her  who  hearts  doth   snare 
Yon  maid  with  bosom  silver-fair; 
Until  thou  thither  dost  repair, 

On  earth  the  glass  of  mirth  and  glee 
To  me's  forbid,  apart  from  thee. 


i82  OTTOMAN   POEMS 


T 


III 

SHARQ7 
Kim  gursa  ol  la'l-i  mult 

o  WHOM  that  wine-red  ruby's  shown 
Is  captive  by  those  locks  o'erthrown ; 
'Tis  meet  like  nightingale  I  moan: 
A  lovely  Scio  Rose  is  blown.280 


Unmatched  yon  maid  with  waist  so  spare, 
Unrivaled  too  her  wanton  air; 
Her  ways  than  e'en  herself  more  fair: 
A  lovely  Scio  Rose  is  blown. 

The  roses  like  her  cheeks  are  few ; 
That  rose  —  blush-pink  its  darling  hue; 
This  summer  ere  the  roses  blew, 
A  lovely  Scio  Rose  is  blown. 

The  rose  —  the  nightingale's  amaze; 
The  rose  the  nightingale  dismays ; 
A  smile  of  hers  the  world  outweighs  : 
A  lovely  Scio  Rose  is  blown. 

O  Wasif,  on  the  rosy  lea, 
The  nightingale  thus  spake  to  me : 
<(  Be  joyful  tidings  now  to  thee  — 
A  lovely  Scio  Rose  is  blown." 


R^4MIZ    PASHA 

1236   [1820  ca.\ 

S 
GAZKL 

Gunul  oldusa  da  misda.q-i  nass-i  Esrefw',  ja  Rabb 

ALTHOUGH  my  heart  the  truth  of   Those  'who 
'wrong-  themselves  doth  show,   O  Lord!281 
In  virtue  of  the  words  Do  not  despair,  Thy 

love  bestow,  O  Lord! 
Beside  the  mead  of  truth  and  calm  make  aye  my 

soul  to  go,  O  Lord  ! 
My  virtue's  rose  to  tint  and  scent  as  captive  do 

not  throw,   O  Lord  ! 
From  vain  attachments'  stain  wash  pure  and  clean  my 

heart  as  snow,   O  Lord  ! 
Against  me  place  not  Thou  the  loathsome  pool  of  lies 

of  foe,  O  Lord  ! 
The  burning  pain  of  exile  no  relief  can  ever  know, 

O  Lord! 
Enow,  if  Thou  the  camphor-salve,  the  dawn  of  hope, 

did  show,   O  Lord  ! 
Thy  slave  is  Ramiz ;   unto  none  save  Thee  doth 

he  bend  low,  O  Lord  ! 

Before  Thy  mercy's  gate  his  tears  from  eyes    and  eyelids 
flow,  O  Lord! 

(183) 


•IZZET    MOLLA 

1252   [1836  ca.] 

From  the  Mihnet-Keshan  282 

GAZEL 

Meyl  edermi  kuhne  sevba  gamet-i  ba.la.-yi    'ishq 

AFTER  old  rags  longing  hath  the  figure  tall  and 
slight  of  Love? 

Fresh  and  fresh  renews  itself  aye  the  brocade 

fire-bright  of  Love. 
'Gainst  the  flames  from  thorns  and  thistles  ne'er  a 

curtain  can  be  •wove, 
Nor  'neath  honor's  veil  can  hide  the  public  shame, 

the  blight  of  Love. 
Through  a  needle's  eye  it  sometimes  vieweth  far-off 

Hindustan  — 
Blind  anon  in  its  own  country  is  the  piercing 

sight  of  Love. 
It  will  turn  it  to  a  ruin  where  naught  save  the 

owl  may  dwell, 
In  a  home  should  chance  be  set  the  erring  foot  of 

plight  of  Love. 
Will  a  single  spark  a  hundred  thousand  homes 

consume  at  times  : 
One  to  me  are  both  the  highest  and  the  lowest  site 

of  Love. 
Never  saw  I  one  who  knoweth  —  O  most  ignorant 

am  I ! 
Yet  doth  each  one  vainly  deem  himself  a  learned  wight 

in  Love. 
Rent  and  shattered  —  laid  in  ruins  —  all  my  caution's 

fortress  vast 
Have  my  evil  Fate,  my  heart's  black  grain,  the  rage, 

the  blight  of  Love. 283 


•IZZET   MOLLA  185 

In  its  hell  alike  it  tortures  Musulman  and  infidel, 
'Izzet,   is  there  chance  of  freedom  from  its -pangs, 

this  plight  of  love? 
Of  reality  hath  made  aware  the  seeker 

after  Truth, 
Showing  lessons  metaphoric,  He,  the  Teacher 

bright  St.  Love! 


<ADL7 
(SULTAN  MAHM£7D  II.) 

I255    tl839] 

GAZKL 
Afubtelast  oldugu  ol  nev-jutv&n  bilmezlenir 

I'm  fall'n    her    conquered  slave,  yon  maiden  bright 

feigns  not  to  know ; 
Thus  pretending,  she  who  doth  the  soul  despite  feigns 

not  to  know. 
Though  I  fail  nought  in  her  service,   she  doth  me 

as  alien  treat ; 
Know  not  I  why  yonder  Darling,  earth's  Delight, 

feigns  not  to  know. 
If  I  dare  to  speak  my  eager  longing  those  her 

lips  to  kiss, 
Friendship  she  disclaims,   in  sooth  with  cruel  slight 

feigns  not  to  know. 
That  she  whets  her  glance's  arrow  and  therewith  doth 

pierce  the  heart, 
E'en  her  bow-like  eyebrow,  yonder  Ban  of  might 

feigns  not  to  know.284 
Well  the  loved  one  knows  the  Sphere  doth  keep  no 

faithful  troth  ;  but,  ah ! 
How  she  copies  it,  that  Heart-ensnarer  bright 

feigns  not  to  know. 
There  is  ne'er  a  refuge,   'Adi/,   from  the  grief  of 

rivals'  taunts; 
I  my  love  conceal  not,   still  yon  maiden  slight 

feigns  not  to  know. 
(186) 


LEYL^4   KH^INIM 

"75   [1858] 

I 

TMR/KH 

On  the  Death  of  'Andeh'b  Khanim285 
Akkiretlik  lAndel'\b  Kh&nim  fen&den  gitdi,  a/// 

•    A   NDEL/B,  th'  adopted  sister,  from  this  transient 
/-X  world  hath  flown, 

Yonder  midst  the  flowers  of  Eden  whilst  still  in  her 

youth  to  stray. 
No  physician,  neither  charmer,   on  the  earth  her  pain 

could  ease  ; 
So  that  youthful  beauty  bided  not  to  smile  on  earth's 

mead  gay. 
With  her  two-and-twenty  summers,  cypress-like 

was  she,  ah  me ! 
But  the  sullen  blast  of  autumn  smote  her  life's  bright, 

lovely  May. 
For  its  tyranny  and  rancor  might  have  blushed  the  vile, 

hard  Sphere, 
As  the  sister  of  earth's  Monarch  pined  in  grief 

without  allay. 
Though  her  kind  friend  never  parted  from  her  eye's 

sweet,  gentle  beam, 
Still  did  she  to  God  her  soul  yield,  and  the  call, 

Return,  obey.286 
Down  the  wayward  Sphere  hath  stricken  that  bright 

Jewel  to  the  earth  ;  — 
What  avail  though  men  and  angels  tears  of  blood  shed 

in  dismay? 

(187) 


i88  OTTOMAN   POEMS 

Length  of  days  to  that  great  Sultan  grant  may  He, 

the  God  of  Truth! 
And  yon  fair  Pearl's  tomb  make  rival  His  own 

Eden's  bright  display! 
With  the  dotted  letters,  Leyla,  thou  the  year  tell'st 

of  her  death  — 

Ca/m  amongst  delightsome  bowers  may 
'Anofe/z'b  her  nest  array! 


LEYLA   KH^NIM  189 

II 

TAKHM/S 

On  a  Gazel  of  Baqz'287 
Bent  ser-mest  u  Siayran  eyleyen  ol  yar-i  j&nim  dir 

'rr*MS  yonder  Darling  of  my  soul    that  wildering  my  sense 

o'erthrows ; 
My  waving  Cypress   'tis  that  freshness  to  the  garden 

doth  disclose ; 
The  bird,  my  heart,  my  gardener  is  in  Love's  fair  parterre 

of  the  rose  : 
Mine  eyes'1  field  'with  thy  cheek1  s  reflection  as  my 

flowery  orchard  shows  ; 

For  long  my  heart  the  picture  of  thy  palm-like  figure 
doth  inclose. 

The  world  seems  in  my  eyes  as  prison  that  doth  my  dear 

love  control ; 
Through  love  for  thee  my  heart  acquireth  many  a  scar, 

and  that's  the  whole ; 
From  hour  to  hour  thine  absence  makes  my  tears  like 

rushing  waters  roll : 
The  heart  bows  down  through  grief  for  thee,  and 

constant  weeps  the  life,  the  soul; 

The  fountain  of  this  -vineyard  is  the  stream  that  from 
my  weeping  flows. 

As  well  thou  know'st,  through  fire  or  love  for  thee  how 

sad  my  plight  of  woe, 
My  smiling  Rosebud,   wilt  thou  ne'er  a  glance  of  pity 

toward  me  throw? 
My  sighs  and  wailings  thou  dost  see,   O  but  for  once 

compassion  show  : 
Through  gazing  on  the  rose  and  bower,  my  heart 

repose  shall  never  know, 

The  ward  where  doth  my  loved  one  dwell  alone  can 
yield  my  soul  repose. 


190  OTTOMAN   POEMS 

O  how  I  think  upon  thy  box-tree  form  in  sorrow's 

night  so  drear! 
My  story  would  Mejnan's  and  Ferhad's  tales  from  mind 

make  disappear. 
My  groans  and  sighs  and  wails  thus  high  do  I  unto 

the  Heavens  uprear, 
By  reason  of  the  sparks  my  sighings  raise  that  steely 

bow^  the  Sphere, 

Revolves  each  night,   my  gold-enameled  beaker  at  the 
feast  of  woes. 

From  thought  of  yonder  witching  eye  my  heart  is  ne'er 

a  moment  free  ; 
When  flow  thy  tears  recall  not  thou  to  mind,   O  Leyla, 

'Oman's  Sea. 
Beneath  thy  shade  my  own  heart's  blood  is  all  that  hath 

been  gained  by  me  : 
My  tears,   an  ocean  vast;   my  lashes,  coral  branches, 

O  B*q\\ 

The  memory,   "'tis  of  thy  palm-form  that  as  my  Judas- 
tree  bright  glows. 


REF'ET     BEG 

SHARQ/288 
A.mah'miz  efk&rimiz   iqbal-i  tuatan   dir 

OUR  hopes,  our  thoughts,  are  for  the  weal  of  our 
dear  native  land; 
Our  bodies  form  the  rampart  strong  to  guard  our 

frontier  strand  : 
We're  Ottomans  —  a  gory  shroud  our  robe  of  honor 

grand. 
(<  God  is  Most  Great !  w  we  shout  in  rush  and  charge 

on  field  of  fight ; 

We're  Ottomans  !   our  lives  we  give,  our  gain  is 
glory  bright. 

The  name  of  Ottoman   with  terror  doth  the  hearer 

thrill ; 
The  glories  of  our  valiant  fathers  all  the  wide 

world  fill  ; 
Think  not  that  nature  changeth  —  nay,   this  blood  is 

yon  blood  still. 
<(  God  is  Most  Great  !  *  we  shout  in  rush  and  charge 

on  field  of  fight  ; 

We're  Ottomans!   our  lives  we  give,   our  gain  is 
glory  bright. 

A  sabre  on  a  blood-red  field — our  banner  famed 

behold  !  289 
Fear  in  our  country  dwelleth  not,  in  mountain  or 

in  wold  : 
In  every  corner  of  our  land  croucheth 

a  lion  bold. 
w  God  is  Most  Great !  *  we  shout  in  rush  and  charge 

on  field  of  fight ; 

We're  Ottomans!  our  lives  we  give,  our  gain  is 
glory  bright. 

(190 


192  OTTOMAN   POEMS 

Then  let  the  cannon  roar,   and  shower  its  flames 

on  every  side  ! 
For  those  our  brothers  brave  let  Heaven  ope  its 

portals  wide! 
What  have  we  found  on  earth  that  one  from  death 

should  flee  or  hide? 
w  God  is  Most  Great !  w   we  shout  in  rush  and  charge 

on  field  of  fight  ; 

We're  Ottomans  !   our  lives  we  give,  our  gain  is 
glory  bright. 


ZIYA     BEG 

1296   [1879  ca.~\ 

I 

GAZEL 
Alir  her  lakza  zevqa  'umr  bir  mey-kh&ne  dir  ' 

A  TAVERN  which  each  moment  takes  a  life  as    pleasure's 
pay  is  earth  ; 

A  glass  which  for  a  thousand  souls  doth  sell 

each  drop  of  spray  is  earth. 
The  world's  a  Magian  that  adores  the  flame  of  power 

and  fortune  high ; 
If  thou  should  brightly  shine,  a  moth  about  thy  taper's  ray 

is  earth. 
Anon  one  is,  anon  is  not  —  thus  ever  runs  the 

course  of  time ; 
From  end  to  end  a  warning-fraught,  a  strange, 

romantic  lay  is  earth, 
'Twixt  sense  and  frenzy  'tis  indeed  right  hard  to  draw 

the  sund'ring  line, 
Ah  me  !  if  understanding's  wise,    demented  sooth 

alway  is  earth. 
The  desolation  of  the  world  beside  its  weal  is 

truth  itself;  »' 

Just  as  prosperity  it  seems,  so  ruin  and 

decay  is  earth. 
How  many  Khusrevs  and  Jemshzds  have  come, 

and  from  its  bower  have  past  ! 
A  theatre  that  vieweth  many  and  many  an  act  and 

play  is   earth. 290 
Ziya,  a  thousand  caravans  of  wise  men  through 

its  realms  have  past ; 
But  yet  not  one  can  tell  its  tale,  and  all  unknown 

this  day  is  earth. 
'3  (i93) 


194  OTTOMAN   POEMS 

II 

TESD/S 

On  a  Beyt  of  Mahmad  Nedz'm  Pasha 
Gunul,  gunul,  ne  bu  Auzn  ve  elem  bu  gam  ta.  keyf 

HEART  !   heart !   how  long  shall  last  this   sorrow, 
anguish  and   dismay? 
All  things  upon  earth's    ruin-cumbered  waste    must 

needs  decay. 
What  was  the  splendor  of  Jemshzd?  where  Khusrev 

and  where  Key  ?  291 
Hold  fast  the  goblet  and  the  wine,  let  chance  not 

fleet  away! 
w  Our  coming  to  this  world  is  one ;  man  must 

reflect,  survey ; 

Care  must  one  banish,  and  look  out  for  calm 
and  quiet  aye." 

Be  he  Khusrev,  or  Rustem,  or  Nerz'man, 

or  Jemsh/d, 
Or  be  he  beggar ;  be  Islam  or  heathenesse 

his  creed ; 
A  few  days  in  earth's  inn  a  guest  is  he, 

then  must  he    speed  : 
Something  to  render  gay  that  time  is  surely 

wisdom's   need. 
<(  Our  coming  to  this  world  is  one ;  man  must 

reflect,  survey; 

Care  must  one  banish,  and  look  out  for  calm 
and  quiet  aye." 

When  viewed  with  understanding's  eye,  the  mote 

hath  no  repose; 
The  world  must  thus  be  imaged  for  exemption 

from  its  woes  : 


BEG  195 

Of  my  coming  and  my  going  it  no  lasting 

picture    shows  — 
That  a  departure  surely  is  which  no  returning 

knows. 
<(  Our  coming  to  this  world  is  one ;  man  must 

reflect,  survey ; 

Care  must  one  banish,  and  look  out   for  calm 
and  quiet,  aye.* 

Events  the  workings  of  the  Lord  Most  High  make 

manifest ; 
Being  the  mirror  is  in  which  the  Absolute's 

exprest ; 
He  who  this  mystery  perceives  in  every 

state  is  blest ; 
The  exit  of  each  one  who  enters  earth  decreed 

doth  rest. 
*  Our  coming  to  this  world  is  one ;  man  must 

reflect,  survey ; 

Care  must  one  banish,  and  look  out  for  calm 
and  quiet  aye.w 

See  that  thou  grievest  not  thyself  with  sorrows 

all  unwise; 
'Tis  need  all  pleasure  to  enjoy  as  far  as 

in  thee  lies; 
Alike  is  he  who  lives  in  joy  and  he  whom 

trouble  tries ; 
If  thou  be  prudent,   ne'er  thine  opportunities 

despise. 
"Our  coming  to  this  world  is  one;  man  must 

reflect,  survey; 

Care  must  one  banish,  and  look  out  for  calm 
and  quiet  aye." 

Since  first  the  banquet  fair,  this  world,   was  cast 

in  form's  designs, 
How  many  rakes  have  passed  away!   how 

many  libertines! 


i96  OTTOMAN  POEMS 

As  counsel  meet  for  revelers,  when  he 

perceived  those  signs, 
Around  the  goblet's  rim  the  Magian  priest 

engraved  these  lines:245 
<(Our  coming  to  this  world  is  one;  man  must 

reflect,  survey  ; 

Care  must  one  banish,  and  look  out  for  calm 
and  quiet  aye.w 

At  length,  Ziya,  shall  joy  beam  forth,  and  grief  an 

end  shall  find; 
But  yet,  O  man,  these  ever  enter  Fortune's 

feast  combined. 
This  hidden  mystery  learn  thou,  by  Mahmwd 

Beg  defined, 
Who  has  the  secret  of  the  same  within  this 

verse  enshrined : 
<(  Our  coming  to  this  world  is  one ;  man  must 

reflect,  survey; 

Care  must  one  banish,  and  look  out  for  calm 
and  quiet  aye.* 


THOSE  DEAR   WOMEN! 
,  Photogravure  after  the  painting  by  de  Beaumont. 


BIOGRAPHICAL   NOTICES 


d97) 


BIOGRAPHICAL    NOTICES 


THE  following  Biographical  Notices  are,  for  the  most  part, 
compiled  from  Von  Hammer's  Geschichte  der  Osman- 
ischen  Dichtkunst.  The  greater  length  of  the  sketches 
of  the  earlier  poets  is  accounted  for  by  the  fact  that 
the  materials  for  drawing  out  such  sketches  are  much 
more  accessible  in  their  case  than  in  that  of  the  more 
modern  authors.  The  originals  of  the  verses  trans- 
lated in  some  of  the  Notices  will  be  found  in  the 
Tezkeras  of  Latz'fz  and  Qjnali-Zada.  The  dates  im- 
mediately following  a  poet's  name  show  the  year  of 
his  death,  the  first,  according  to  the  Hijra;  the  sec- 
ond, to  the  Christian  era. 


4  ^4sHiCL  PASHA  (733=1332)  is  the  earliest  writer  of  the 
Ottomans;  he  flourished  as  far  back  as  the  reign  of  Orkhan, 
second  monarch  of  the  nation ;  and  consequently,  as  may 
be  imagined,  his  work  is  of  great  interest  as  a  specimen  of 
the  language  at  that  distant  period.  He  lived  where  he  was 
born,  in  the  town  of  Qir-Shehr  in  Anatolia.  His  title  of 
Pasha  is  a  spiritual  one  ;  he  was  not  a  leader  of  warriors, 
but  a  chief  among  mystics ;  in  the  same  way  the  great 
Sheykh  Bukhara  is  called  Emir,  and  the  son  of  Mevlana 
Jelalu-'d-Dzn,  Sultan  Veled.  The  following  is  one  of 
1  ylshiq's  sayings,  recorded  by  Latz'fz':  (<  He  is  a  dervish 
who  forsakes  the  ;,vorld;  he  is  a  beggar  whom  the  world 
forsakes." 

AHMED/  (815=1412)  is  the  first  and  perhaps  the  greatest 
of  the  Ottoman  epic  poets.  He  does  not,  however,  owe  this 
high  position  to  elegance  of  diction,  for  his  words  and 

(199) 


200  BIOGRAPHICAL   NOTICES 

phrases  are  not  unfrequently  rough  and  uncouth,  but  to  the 
immense  sweep  of  subject  contained  in  his  great  work,  the 
Iskender-N&ma,  which  is  an  epitome  not  only  of  Oriental 
history  from  the  earliest  times  down  to  the  period  when  he 
wrote,  but  also  of  Eastern  mysticism,  philosophy,  and 
science.  He  was  born  at  S*vas,  and  flourished  during  the 
reigns  of  Murad  I.  and  Bayezzd  I.  The  biographers  relate 
that  when  Ahmed*  took  his  Iskender-No.ma  to  his  patron, 
Prince  Suleyman,  the  ill-fated  son  of  Bayezz'd,  he  met  with 
but  a  poor  reception,  being  told  that  an  elegant  qas\da 
would  have  been  preferable  to  so  ponderous  a  work.  Ahmed*' , 
deeply  chagrined  at  this,  went  and  complained  to  the  great 
poet  Sheykhz,  with  whom  he  lived;  so  Sheykh*  that 
night  composed  a  qasida  in  Ahmed*'' s  name  and  gave  it  to 
the  latter  to  take  to  his  patron.  The  Prince,  at  once  per- 
ceiving the  difference  between  the  graceful  diction  of  Sheykhz' 
and  the  unpolished  style  of  Ahmed/,  said  smilingly  to  the 
poet :  (<  If  this  qasida  is  thine,  then  yonder  book  is  not ; 
and  if  yonder  book  is  thine,  then  this  qas\da  is  not.* 
When  Timur  in  his  Anatolian  campaign,  which  so  very 
nearly  proved  fatal  to  the  Ottoman  power,  arrived  at 
Amasiya,  he  made  the  acquaintance  of  Ahmed*/  for  he 
was  fond  of  the  society  of  men  of  letters,  and  the  exploits 
of  Ahmed/'s  hero,  Alexander  the  Great,  were  congenial 
subjects  to  the  Tatar  conqueror.  One  day,  in  the  public 
bath,  the  monarch  said  to  the  poet :  <(  Value  me  these  fair 
boys  thou  seest  here."  Ahmed*  valued  them,  some,  at  the 
world  filled  with  gold  and  silver,  others,  at  the  tribute  of 
Egypt  in  pearls  and  jewels.  <(  And  at  how  much  dost  thou 
value  me  ?}>  said  the  mighty  conqueror.  <(  At  eighty  aqchas** 
replied  the  poet.  "The  towel  I  have  about  me  is  alone 
worth  eighty  aqchas?  said  T*m«r.  Ahmedz's  answer  was 
bold:  "It  was  therefore  I  valued  thee  thereat,  and  above 
that  thou  art  worth  nothing;  for  the  Commanding  Soulf  is 
not  worth  a  red  farthing.8  T*m«r,  instead  of  being  angry, 

*  An  aqcha  is  a  small  coin,  one-third  of  a  para,  and  consequently 
iiTth  of  a  piastre,  or  the  -^th  of  a  penny. 

t  There  are  three  states  of  the  passions  in  Muslim  ethics —  (i)  Nefs-i 
ISmmara,  K  the  Commanding  Soul  or  Flesh, »  that  state  of  the  pas- 
sions when  they  habitually  control  and  compel  the  individual  to  obey 


BIOGRAPHICAL  NOTICES  201 

was  pleased  with  this  reply,  and  rewarded  the  poet.  Be- 
sides the  Iskender-Nv.ma,  Ahmed/  left  a  romantic  poem 
called  Jemshid  and  Khurshid  and  a  Diiva.n  of  gazels  and 
qas\das.  He  had  a  brother,  who  wrote  in  twenty-four 
volumes  the  romantic  history  of  Hemza,  the  uncle  of  the 
Prophet.  This  work  earned  for  its  author  the  surname  of 
Hemzav//  and  to  this  day  the  fabulous  tales  and  poems 
wherewith  the  Afedd&hs,  or  public  story-tellers,  amuse  the 
guests  in  the  coffee-houses  are  called  in  Turkey  Hemza-N&mas. 

SHEYKH/  (830=1426  ca.)t  the  first  of  the  Ottomans  to  write 
a  romantic  poem,  was  born,  during  the  reign  of  Bayeztd 
I.,  in  Germiyan  in  Asia  Minor.  His  name  was  Sinan,  the 
takhallus,  or  surname,  of  Sheykh/  being  given  to  him 
partly  on  account  of  his  advancement  in  the  mystic  path, 
and  partly  by  reason  of  his  being  the  Sheykh,  or  chief,  of 
the  poets  of  his  age.  He  studied  for  a  time  at  Brasa  with 
Ahmed*'  the  author  of  the  Iskender-N&ma,  and  then  under 
the  celebrated  Sheykh  Haj/  Beyram,  founder  of  the  Bey- 
ram/  Order  of  dervishes.  To  [gain  his  livelihood,  Shey- 
kh/ undertook  the  study  of  medicine,  giving  particular 
attention  to  the  diseases  of  the  eye,  a  branch  of  the 
science  to  which  he  may  have  been  attracted  by  some 
such  malady  in  himself.  Anyhow  the  story  is  told  of 
a  patient,  to  whom  he  had  for  an  aqcha  given  an  oint- 
ment for  the  eyes,  making  him  a  present  of  another 
aqcha  that  he  might  prepare  a  further  supply  for  his  own 
organs  of  vision.  Sheykh/  was  the  trusted  medical  adviser 
of  Sultan  Muhammed  I.  Things  had  not  gone  very  well 
with  that  monarch  on  one  of  his  military  expeditions,  and 
in  consequence  thereof  he  had  lost  both  his  spirits  and  his 
health.  The  physician ,  perceiving  what  was  the  cause  of 
the  Sultan's  indisposition,  promised  him  complete  recovery 
with  the  news  of  the  first  victory.  This  was  not  long  of 
coming,  and  with  it  returned  the  sovereign's  heart  and 
health.  Muhammed,  pleased  with  his  doctor's  penetration, 

their  exigencies;  (2)  Nefs-i  Lev-warna,  wthe  Upbraiding  Soul,8  that 
state  when  the  passions  can  be  controlled,  though  they  still  strive  to 
make  their  voice  heard;  Nefs-i  Mutmd'inna,  <(the  Peaceful  Soul,* 
that  state  when  the  passions  are  totally  subdued. 


202  BIOGRAPHICAL   NOTICES 

rewarded  him  with  the  rich  fief  of  Toquzlu.  This,  how- 
ever, did  not  meet  with  the  approval  of  the  then  possessor 
of  that  demesne,  who  waylaid  Sheykhz  on  his  road  thither, 
robbed  him  of  all  he  had  about  him,  and  give  him  a  severe 
cudgelling  into  the  bargain.  The  poet  brought  this  inci- 
dent under  the  Sultan's  notice  by  means  of  a  satire  written 
in  verse  and  entitled  Khar-No.ma^  <(  The  Ass-Book, *  in 
which  he  related  the  whole  adventure.  Sultan  Murad 
II.  held  the  poet-doctor  in  even  higher  esteem  than  had 
done  his  predecessor,  Muhammed ;  for  he  desired  to  make 
him  his  vezzr.  This  the  enemies  of  Sheykhz  prevented : 
under  guise  of  zeal  for  literature  they  represented  to 
Murad  how  much  better  it  would  be  to  first  employ  such 
a  distinguished  poet  in  some  great  literary  work,  and  then 
to  reward  him  with  the  vezzrate.  The  Sultan  was  deceived ; 
he  requested  Sheykh*  to  translate  into  Turkish  some  of  the 
works  of  the  great  Persian  poet  Nizarm.  Khusrev  and 
Sh\r\n  was  the  poem  selected ;  but  Sheyktu  did  not  live  to 
finish  it;  he  died  during  the  reign  of  Murad  II.,  to  whom 
his  translation  is  dedicated,  and  lies  buried  at  Kwtahiya. 
His  nephew,  Jemalz,  the  author  of  several  poems,  com- 
pleted the  work.  Five  Ottoman  poets  besides^  Sheykhz 
have  sung  the  story  of  Sh/rz'n :  Ahz,  Jeh'h',  Khah'fa,  and 
Mu'eyyed-zada  composed  Khusrev  and  Sh\r\ns;  whilst 
Lami'z  wrote  the  tale  of  her  adventures  with  Ferhad  under 
the  name  of  Ferfad- N*ma ,  «The  Book  of  Ferhad.»  We 
are  told  that  once,  shortly  after  the  capture  of  'Constanti- 
nople, when  the  great  Sheykh,  Aq  Shemsu-'d-Dzn,  was 
seated  in  deep  meditation  amongst  his  disciples,  he  repeated 
over  and  over  again,  as  it  were  from  the  depths  of  his  soul, 
the  words,  (<  O  Germiyan !  O  Germiyan !  *  When  his 
wondering  pupils  asked  him  what  he  meant  thereby,  he 
said  to  them  that  the  exclamations  had  been  wrung  from 
him  by  admiration  of  these  lines  of  the  great  poet  of  Ger- 
miyan  : 

Ne'er  can  Reason,  of  the  caravan  of  God's  might,  news  convey 
Through  that  means,  not  e'en  the  tinkling  of  its  bell  can  reach  the  soul.* 

*  Kibriy&nin  k&raba.ninden  khaber  vermez  'ugul; 
Ermez  andan  ;'a»  qulagina  meger  bzng-i  feres. 


BIOGRAPHICAL   NOTICES  203 

YAZIJI-OGLU  (853=1449),  called  also  Ibn-Katib  —  the  first 
name  being  Turkish,  the  other  Arabic,  for  the  Scribe's 
Son  —  lived  at  Galipoli  with  his  brother  Bzjan,  who  was, 
like  himself,  a  mystic  poet.  The  first,  who  had  stud- 
ied under  the  celebrated  Sheykh  Hajz  Beynzm,  founder 
of  the  order  of  dervishes,  called  the  Bey  ram  z,  wrote  in 
Arabic  a  great  theological  work  entitled,  Mag&ribu-'z-Ze- 
m&n  fi  GarvCibi-'l-Eshya.  Ji-'l-'Ayn  ve-'l-'Ay&n,  which  his 
brother  translated  into  Turkish  under  the  name  Env&ru-l- 
'•Kshiqin,  <(  The  Lights  of  Lovers.  w  Both  brothers  then 
took  the  Mago.rib  as  material  for  new  works  :  Bz'jan  com- 
piled from  it  the  Durr-i  Meknun,  <(  The  Hidden  Pearl," 
and  the  other,  known  as  Yaziji-Oglu,  the  great  poem  of 
the  Muhammediyya.  This  immense  work,  which  consists 
of  9,109  couplets,  comprises  the  whole  doctrine  of  Islam, 
as  well  as  the  history  of  the  Prophet.  It  was  completed  in 
853  (1449),  four  years  before  the  capture  of  Constantinople. 

SULTAN  MUR/JD  II.  (855=1451),  sixth  sovereign  of  the 
House  of  'Osman,  is  notable  as  being  the  earliest  of  the 
Ottoman  Monarchs  who  encouraged  poetry  by  personal  ex- 
ample, the  first  of  the  long  line  of  poet-sultans.  The  prin- 
cipal events  of  Munzd's  reign  are,  an  unsuccessful  siege  of 
Constantinople,  and  the  memorable  victory  of  Varna,  where 
a  host  of  forsworn  Christians  under  Hunyades  met  in  an 
utter  and  ignominious  rout,  the  just  reward  of  treachery. 
In  this  battle  the  standard  of  the  Ottomans  consisted  of  a 
lance  on  which  was  reared  a  copy  of  the  treaty  violated  by 
the  Christians,  who,  having  seen  Murad  occupied  in  Asia, 
pounced  upon  his  European  territories,  after  swearing  upon 
the  Gospels  to  leave  them  undisturbed.  Murad  II.  twice 
abdicated  and  was  twice  recalled  to  the  throne,  the  first  time 
to  gain  the  battle  just  spoken  of.  More  to  his  taste  than  the 
pomp  of  sovereignty  was  his  quiet  and  pleasant  retreat  at 
Magm'sa,  where  twice  a  week  he  held  re-unions  of  savants 
and  poets,  at  which  the  guests  discussed  literary  questions 
and  recited  verses  of  their  own  composition.  Murad  died 
in  Adrianople,  after  a  glorious  reign  of  thirty  years. 


:  SULTAN  MUHAMMKD  II.  (886=1481)  was  girt  with 
the    scimitar    of    'Osman    when    twenty-one    years    of    age 


204  BIOGRAPHICAL  NOTICES 

Two  years  later  Constantinople,  and  with  it  the  last  vestige 
of  the  Roman  Empire,  fell  before  his  victorious  legions. 
When,  after  the  capture  of  this  great  city,  the  Sultan  en- 
tered the  deserted  palace  of  the  Emperors,  gazing  upon 
the  scene  of  desolation,  and  pondering  on  the  transitoriness 
of  the  glories  of  earth,  he  repeated  this  famous  Persian 
couplet  :  — 

Midst  the  palace  of  the  Caesars  doth  the  spider  weave  her  toil; 
And  the  owl  stands  sentry  o'er  the  turrets  of  Efrasiyab.* 

Many  conquests  mark  his  reign  :  the  Principality  of  Sznwb 
and  the  Empire  of  Trebizond  were  annexed  to  the  Ottoman 
dominions  ;  and  the  Kingdom  of  Qaraman,  which  had  been 
the  rival  of  the  'Osmanli  power  from  its  earliest  days,  was 
finally  subdued.  Sultan  Muhammed  II.  fought  and  over- 
threw the  Vallachian  Prince,  Vlad  the  Impaler,  one  of  the 
most  cruel  tyrants  of  whom  history  makes  mention.  The 
Ottoman  admiral,  Gedik  Ahmed  Pasha,  toward  the  close 
of  this  Sultan's  reign  landed  in  Italy  and  captured  Otranto. 
Muhammed  II.  died  at  the  age  of  fifty-two,  having  in  his 
thirty  years'  reign  conquered  2  empires,  7  kingdoms,  and 
200  towns.  M.  Servan  de  Sugny,  who  ought  to  have 
known  better,  gives  credence  to  the  fable  of  Irene  (who 
never  existed),  and  even  goes  so  far  as  to  connect  one  of 
the  Sultan's  poems  with  this  mythical  tragedy  !  Sultan 
Muhammed  II.,  himself  a  poet,  was  a  great  patron  and 
protector  of  literature  and  men  of  letters;  thus,  as  his  many 
and  brilliant  achievements  in  war  have  earned  for  him  the 
title  of  Ebu-'l-Feth,  "Father  of  Victory,  »  so  have  his  zeal 
and  liberality  in  building  medresas  \  and  the  like  gained  for 
him  the  surname  of  Ebu-^l-Khayr^t^  (<  Father  of  Good 
Works."  Thirty  Ottoman  poets  were  pensioned  by  him, 
and  every  year  he  sent  1,000  ducats  a-piece  to  the  Indian 
Khoja'-i  Jihan  and  the  Persian  Jarm,  the  latter  of  whom 
composed  an  ode  in  his  honor.  Muhammed  II.,  like  many 


*  Perde-dari  m'\-kuned  der  qasr-i  Qaysar  'ankebut;  Bum 
zened  der  gumbed-i  Efr&siy&b. 

Efrasiyab  is  the  name  of  a  Turanian  Prince,  the  chief  opponent  of 
the  Persian  Rustem  his  exploits  are  detailed  in  the  Shah-Nama. 

t  A  medresa  is  a  college  for  the  study  of  law  and  divinity. 


BIOGRAPHICAL   NOTICES  205 

other  of  the  Ottoman  Sultans  (who  resemble  in  this  respect 
the  old  Khal/fas  of  Bagdad),  delighted  exceedingly  in  the 
society  of  poets.  Persians  especially  had  for  him  a  great 
attraction ;  and  the  story  is  told  of  a  Turk  who,  to  gain 
admittance  to  the  Imperial  circle,  gave  out  that  he  was  a 
native  of  /ran ;  he  was  however  detected  and  summarily 
dismissed.  Muhammed  wrote  most  of  his  gazels  under  the 
takhallus  of  '  Avnz.  Many  of  his  vez/'rs  were  poets  ;  among 
whom  may  be  mentioned  Ahmed  Pasha,  Mahmad  Pasha, 
and  Jezerz  Qasim  Pasha ;  the  two  latter  wrote  under  the 
names  'Adem  and  Saf/,  respectively.  These,  like  their 
master,  were  men  of  action  as  well  as  of  letters.  —  Sultan 
Muhammed  II.  had  full,  round  cheeks,  tinted  red  and 
white ;  and  a  firm  mouth ;  the  moustachios  that  adorned  his 
lips  were  (<  like  leaves  over  two  rosebuds,  and  every  hair  of 
his  beard  was  as  a  thread  of  gold  w  ;  while  his  hooked  nose 
over  his  red  lips  was  like  <(  the  beak  of  a  parrot  above  a  cherry.* 

The  practice  of  imperial  fratricide,  though  not  originated 
by  Muhammed  II.,  was  by  him  made  into  a  state  maxim. 
If  it  be  true  that  it  is  better  one  should  die  than  many, 
that  <(an  insurrection  is  more  grievous  than  an  execution,"* 
then  was  this  otherwise  atrocious  custom  altogether  justifi- 
able ;  for  as  surely  as  an  Ottoman  Prince  had  the  power  to 
assault  his  brother's  throne,  he  did  so  with  might  and 
main ;  and  even  if  he  had  not  the  power,  so  long  as  he 
lived  there  was  always  a  host  of  restless  spirits  and  disap- 
pointed adventurers  ready  to  make  his  detention  the  excuse 
for  an  attack  upon  the  existing  authority.  For  an  empire, 
surrounded  by  inveterate  and  powerful  foes,  and  containing 
within  its  own  borders  a  conquered,  and  therefore  hostile, 
population,  to  be  periodically  exhausted  by  furious  and  use- 
less fratricidal  wars  would  have  been  simply  ruin.  The 
sagacity  of  Muhammed  foresaw  this,  and  his  grim  fortitude 
did  not  shrink  from  applying  the  only  possible  remedy.  In 
this  case,  as  in  many  another,  a  swift  stern  blow  dealt 
uncompromisingly  at  the  root  of  the  evil  was,  in  the  long 
run,  the  most  merciful  course  that  could  be  adopted.  It 
need  scarcely  be  said  that  with  the  necessity  for  it,  this 
custom  died  out.  With  the  Jagatay  Turkish  Emperors  of 

*Qur-<m,  ii.,  187. 


206  BIOGRAPHICAL   NOTICES 

Dihh'  this  rule  did  not  hold;  and,  as  a  consequence,  the 
empire  of  the  w  Great  Moguls  *  was  rarely  free  from  civil 
war.  It  would  seem  that  nothing  less  than  a  crown  could 
satisfy  the  lofty  ambition  of  a  Turkish  Prince. 

'ADEN/:  MAHM£/D  PASHA  (879=1474),  the  conqueror  of 
Negroponte,  one  of  the  poet-grand-vezrrs  of  Sultan  Muham- 
med  II.,  was  the  son  of  an  Illyrian  father  and  a  Byzantine 
mother.  He  constructed  many  public  buildings  in  Constan- 
tinople, some  of  which  remain  to  this  day.  His  bounty 
and  liberality  are  highly  praised  by  the  Ottoman  biograph- 
ers. Qinali-Zada  tells  us  that  on  the  completion  of  the 
college  he  built  in  the  capital,  he  gave  to  each  of  the  stu- 
dents two  turbans,  a  piece  of  scarlet  cloth  (for  a  garment), 
and  500  aqchas.  Every  Friday  he  held  an  entertainment 
of  savants,  and  regularly  among  the  dishes  served  was  a 
plate  of  rice  and  peas,  a  great  number  of  the  latter  being 
of  pure  gold;  every  guest  kept  those  he  took  up  in  his 
spoon.  Mahmwd  fell  eventually  under  the  Sultan's  dis- 
pleasure, was  dismissed  from  office,  imprisoned  in  the  Seven 
Towers,  and  there,  after  a  little,  put  to  death.  Shortly  be- 
fore his  disgrace  he  said  :  (<  I  came  to  the  threshold  of  the 
Padishah  with  a  horse,  a  sword,  and  50x3  aqchas;  whatso- 
ever I  possess  besides  has  been  gained  in  the  service  of  the 
Padishah  ;  and  in  the  shade  of  his  good  fortune  have  heart 
and  soul  attained  each  hope  and  wish.* 


(880=1475  ca.)  was  a  native  of  the  city  of 
Amasiya.  He  gained  admittance  to  the  court  of  Sultan 
Bayezzd  II.  ;  but  there  (<  the  fraternity  of  envy,  to  force 
and  expel  him  from  the  court  of  the  Padishah,  blocked  up 
the  path  of  propriety  with  the  thorns  and  thistles  of  spite 
and  rancor,  and  drove  him  far  from  the  Imperial  presence  ; 
and  in  the  time  of  old  age  shattered  the  glass,  his  tender 
heart,  with  the  stone  of  cruelty.®  In  his  retirement  he  com- 
posed a  qas\da  giving  an  account  of  his  misfortunes.  Latzfz 
says  that  whis  D'vw&n  is  composed  of  flowery  poesies;  and  his 
sweet  expositions,  of  the  delicious  flavor  of  expressions.  w 

ZEYNKB  (886=1481  ca.),  according  to  Latzfz,  was  born  in 
Qastam«nz  but/   '^shiq  Chelebi  states  that  Amasiya,  where 


BIOGRAPHICAL   NOTICES  207 

her  father  was  ya.di,  was  her  native  town.  Perceiving 
her  talent,  her  father  made  her  study  the  Persian  D\wa.ns^ 
and  the  Arabic  qasidas,  with  happy  result ;  for  she  herself 
composed  a  Diw&n  of  Turkish  and  Persian  poems,  which 
she  dedicated  to  Sultan  Muhammed  II.  She  seems  never 
to  have  been  married.  Latz'f i  says  of  her :  (<  She  was  a 
lady  of  virtue  and  chastity,  a  maiden,  modest  and  pure; 
in  the  female  sex,  in  the  class  of  womankind,  a  wonder  of 
the  age,  one  renowned  and  covered  with  fame.*  And  thus 
Qinali-Ztfda  :  <{  The  bride,  her  learning  and  poetry,  is  not 
hidden  and  concealed  by  the  curtain  of  secrecy  and  the  veil 
of  bashfulness ;  but  the  rosiness  of  her  beauty  and  the  down 
and  mole  of  her  comeliness  are  beheld  and  esteemed  of  the 
public,  and  the  object  of  the  gaze  of  every  man  and  woman. " 
PRINCE  JEM  (901=1495)  was  the  younger  brother  of  Sul- 
tan Bayezzd  II.,  with  whom  (after  the  wont  of  Turkish 
Princes)  he  contested  the  Imperial  throne.  Being  defeated 
at  Yeni-Shehr,  he  fled  to  the  court  of  the  Sultan  of  Egypt, 
where  he  was  hospitably  received,  and  whence  he  made 
the  pilgrimage  to  Mekka.  Next  year  he  renewed  the  war 
and  was  again  defeated ;  and  this  time,  unfortunately  for 
himself,  he  sought  refuge  in  Christian  lands.  He  fled  with 
thirty  followers  to  Rhodes  and  begged  protection  from  the 
Knights  of  St.  John.  D'Aubusson,  the  Grand  Master,  re- 
ceived him,  not  out  of  any  kindliness,  but  for  the  sake  of 
the  coffers  of  the  Order.  The  Knights  soon  came  to  the 
conclusion  that  their  prisoner  would  be  safer  in  one  of  the 
commanderies  owned  by  the  Order  in  France,  so  they  shipped 
the  Prince  and  his  few  retainers  off  to  Nice.  The  Grand 
Master  then  made  an  arrangement  with  Sultan  Bayezzd,  where- 
by the  former  was  to  receive  a  yearly  payment  of  45,000 
ducats,  ostensibly  for  the  maintenance  of  the  Prince,  but  in 
reality  as  a  bribe  for  his  compulsory  detention  in  some  pos- 
session of  the  Orcler.  On  Jem's  arrival  at  Nice,  he  com- 
posed his  celebrated  gazel  which  begins  with  the  lines  :  — 

Come,  O  Jem,    thy  Jemshid    cup  drain;  'tis    the  land  of   Frankistan; 

Aye,  'tis   fate,   and  what   is  written  on  his  brow   must  hap  to  man.* 

% 
*jfam-i  Jem  nusA  eyle,  ey  Jem,  bu  Firenkist&n  dir; 

Her  qulun  bashina  yazilan  gelir,   devr&n  dir. 


2o8  BIOGRAPHICAL  NOTICES 

He  was  detained  for  some  months  in  that  city  under  various 
pretexts,  and  most  of  his  Turkish  followers  were  forcibly 
separated  from  him ;  then  he  was  removed  to  the  interior, 
where  he  was  transferred  from  castle  to  castle.  At  one  of 
these,  that  of  Sassenage,  the  beautiful  Philipinne  Ilulene, 
daughter  of  the  chatelain,  fell  in  love  with  the  Turkish 
Prince,  and  by  her  kindness  did  much  to  cheer  the  dreary 
hours  of  his  captivity :  long  after  his  removal  from  Sassenage 
his  only  solace  was  in  correspondence  with  this  fair  friend. 
During  his  thirteen  years  of  captivity  among  the  Franks, 
so  far  as  history  tells,  Prince  Jem  received  no  sincere  kind- 
ness from  any  Christian,  except  this  lady.  Knights,  Kings, 
and  Popes,  though  they  treated  him  with  outward  respect, 
and  flattered  him  with  false  promises  of  aid  to  gain  his 
father's  throne,  made  him  an  object  of  barter  among  them- 
selves for  the  sake  of  the  ducats  that  could  be  got  from 
Stamboul  for  his  safe  custody. 

From  the  hands  of  the  Rhodian  Knights,  Jem  was  trans- 
ferred to  those  of  Pope  Innocent  VIII.,  who,  dying  shortly 
afterward,  was  succeeded  by  the  infamous  Alexander  Borgia. 
This  pontiff  sent  an  ambassador  to  Constantinople  to  arrange 
about  the  continuation  of  the  payment  of  the  45,000  du- 
cats; but  he  also  stipulated  that  he  was  to  have  the 
option  of  receiving  300,000  ducats  down,  if  he  effect- 
ually relieved  Bayez/d  from  all  further  anxiety  on  the 
score  of  Jem,  by  putting  an  end  to  that  Prince's  life. 
Charles  VIII.,  King  of  France,  invaded  Italy,  entered 
Rome,  and  acquired  possession  of  Jem.  Borgia  saw 
that  his  chance  of  profit  through  the  maintenance  of  the 
Ottoman  Prince  was  gone,  so  he  chose  the  still  more 
profitable  alternative,  and  caused  the  unfortunate  fugitive 
to  be  poisoned. 

The  biographers  record  that,  when  at  the  Egyptian  Court, 
Jem  sent  to  his  brother  this  verse:  — 

Thou  liest  on  couch  of  roses,  smiling  with  delight; 

Whilst  I  am  fall'n  mid  suff' ring's  fires  —  O  wherefore  is    it   so?* 

*  Sen  bister-i  gulda  yatasin,  shevq  He  khandzn; 
Ben  kul  dushinem  kulkhan-i  mihnetda,  sebeb  ne  ? 


BIOGRAPHICAL  NOTICES  209 

to  which  Bayezz'd  replied  : — 

Since  from  eternity  to  us  hath  Kingship  been  decreed, 
To  destiny  yield'st  thou  thee  not?  O  wherefore  is  it  so? 
<(I  pilgrim  am  to  Holy  Shrine,8  'tis  thus  thou  dost  declare; 
O  why  then  such  desire  for  earthly  empire  dost  thou  show?* 

Prince  Jem  was  endowed  with  a  large  share  of  the  poetic 
talent  by  which  his  House  is  so  distinguished ;  many  of  his 
verses  are  full  of  fire,  grace,  and  originality ;  he  was  indeed 
a  poet  in  the  most  restricted  meaning  of  the  term. 

AHMED  PASHA  (902=1496),  the  son  of  Veliyyu-'d-Dm, 
a  £>&ziyyu- '/-' Asker pf  under  Munzd  II.,  is  the  first  really 
great  lyric  poet  of  the  Ottomans.  Quick  at  repartee  and 
highly  endowed  with  the  poetic  genius,  he  was  raised  to  the 
rank  of  vezz'r  by  the  poet-fostering  Sultan,  Muhammed  II., 
whose  tutor  he  had  been  in  earlier  days.  As  an  instance 
of  his  ready  wit  the  biographers  relate  that  one  day  when 
he  and  the  Sultan  were  together,  the  latter,  a  great  lover  of 
literature,  and  as  such  naturally  well  versed  in  the  most  famed 
productions  of  the  East,  repeated  with  much  admiration  the 
following  couplet  of  the  Persian  poet,  Hafiz  of  Shmzz  :  — 

Those  who  can  make,  with  but  one  look,  the  dust  elixir  grow, 

O  that  a  sidelong  glance  they  would  toward  us  in   kindness   throw !  \ 

whereupon  Ahmed  at    once  improvised    in    Persian    and    in 
the  same  metre:  — 

Those  who  can  make,  with  but  one  look,  the  dust  elixir  grow, 
To  t«tya  turn  the  pearly  dust  where'er  thy  footsteps  go !  § 

*  Chu.n  Rnz-i  ezel  qismet  olunmush  bize  devlet, 
Taqdira  riza.  vermeyesinbuyle  sebeb  ne  t 
Hajju-'l-Haremeynim  deyifin  da'-wa  gilirsin, 
Bu  saltanttt-i  dunyeviya  bunja  taleb  net 

t (<  Judge  of  the  army,*  the  title  of  two  high  legal  functionaries, 
subordinate  only  to  the  S/ieyk/iu-'l-fsfam. 

t  A»a»  ki  kk&kra.  bv-nazar  kimiya.  kunend,  Aja  buved  ki  ffushe-i 
cheshmi  be-ma.  kunend! 

§  A»a»  */  kha.kra.  be-nctzar  kimiya.  kunend,  Kha,k-i  jeva.htr-i  qademet 
tutiya.  kunend! 

is  properly  the  (<  Philosopher's   Stone,M  not  <(  elixir.8 

14 


2io  BIOGRAPHICAL   NOTICES 

So  delighted  is  the  Sultan  said  to  have  been  with  this  ready 
answer,  that  he  ordered  the  Vezxr's  mouth  to  be  filled  with 
jewels. 

Ahmed,  howerver,  did  not  continue  in  the  Sultan's  favor. 
Qinali-Zada  gives  the  story  of  his  fall  in  this  wise  (Latz'fz 
tells  it  somewhat  differently)  :  Among  the  pages  of  the 
Seraglio  was  a  beautiful  boy  of  whom  the  Vezzr  was  very 
fond ;  Muhammed  suspected  this,  but  not  being  sure,  re- 
solved to  put  the  Pasha  to  the  test.  He  ordered  the  boy's 
beautiful  hair  to  be  cut  off,  and  sent  him  with  a  cup  of 
sherbet  to  the  Vezzr,  who  was  in  the  bath.  Ahmed,  when 
he  saw  the  boy  shorn  of  his  locks,  gave  utterance  to  his 
sorrow  and  dismay  in  these  words  :  — 

Yon  Idol   hath  removed  his  locks,   his  infidelity  disclosed; 

The    Magian  hath  his    girdle  rent,  but  yet  no  Musulman  is  he ;  * 

which,  being  reported  to  the  Sultan,  at  once  confirmed  his 
suspicion,  and,  in  his  rage,  he  ordered  his  minister  to  be 
shut  up  in  the  Chamberlain's  apartment,  there  to  be  put  to 
death.  Imprisoned  there,  in  the  hope  of  moving  the  clem- 
ency of  the  Sultan,  Ahmed  Pasha  composed  and  sent  out 
to  him  his  famous  Kerem  Qasidast,  <(  Grace  Qas/da,"  so 
called  because  the  word  herein  <(  grace  M  forms  its  redif.  It 
commences  thus  :  — 

O  a  drop  from   grace's  ocean !  thou  that  art  the  Main  of  grace ! 
Fills  thy  hand's  cloud  bounty's  flowery  garden  with  the  rain  of  grace. 
Should  the  slave  do  wrong,  what  harm  then  if  the  King  of  kings  forgive  ? 
Were  my  two  hands  steeped  in  blood,  blood's  dye  away  were  ta'en  of 

grace ! 

What  the  grace  that  can  be  vanquished,   aye,  and  even  slain  of  sin ! 
What  the  sin  not  to  be  vanquished,  aye,  and  even  slain  of  grace  ? 
Water  drowns  not,  no,  it  fosters  these  things  which  itself  hath  reared; 
Wherefore  then  should  overwhelm  me   ruin  from  the  Main  of  grace  ? 

This  poetical  petition  had  the  desired  effect,  for  Muhammed, 
who  was  a  sort  of  Har«nu-'r-Reshz'd,  was  so  pleased  that  he 
not  only  forgave  the  Pasha,  but  presented  him  with  the 
page ;  he,  however,  banished  him  to  Br«sa,  with  the  ap- 
pointment of  director  of  the  legacies  of  the  Mosque  of  Sultan 

*Zulfun  gidermish  ol  sanem  kafirligin  qonar  kenuz; 
Zunn&rini  kesmish  mugbeche  vek  Musulm&n  olmamish. 


BIOGRAPHICAL   NOTICES  211 

Mur«d.  After  a  while  he  was  named  Sanjaq-Begi  of  Sultan- 
Unu  ;  and  under  Muhammed's  son  and  successor,  Bayezz'd 
II.,  he  was  appointed  governor  of  Brwsa,  an  office  which 
he  held  during  the  remainder  of  his  life. 

At  one  time  Ahmed  Pasha  stood  high  in  the  favor  of 
the  Great  Conqueror  of  Constantinople,  who,  himself  a  poet, 
was  always  very  partial  to  those  who  cultivated  his  favorite 
art  ;  he  gave  him  the  revenues  of  the  village  of  Ekmekji 
near  Adrianople,  along  with  one  of  his  slave-girls,  called 
Twtz,  (C  Parrot,  }>  by  whom  Ahmed  had  a  daughter,  who 
died  in  childhood.  Von  Hammer,  in  his  <(  History  of  the 
Ottoman  Empire,  w  tells  the  following  anecdote,  taken  from 
the  work  of  Seyyid  Isma'zl,  who  is  known  as  (<  the  Rhetori- 
cian of  Brwsa."  One  day,  when  Sultan  Muhammed,  Ahmed 
Pasha,  and  one  of  the  pages  of  the  Seraglio  were  out  rid- 
ing, annoyed  by  the  dust  which  blew  in  their  faces,  the 
Pasha  repeated  the  words  of  the  Ojur'otn  :  (<  Would  that  I 
were  dust  !  w  *  The  Sultan,  not  hearing  exactly,  asked  : 
"What  does  he  say?"  whereupon  the  boy,  witty  as  hand- 
some, repeated  Ahmed's  quotation,  but  with  the  words  which 
in  the  verse  come  immediately  before  :  <(  Saith  the  Kafir 
("infidel,"  (<  scoundrel  »),  <  would  that  I  were  dust  !  >  » 

As  already  stated,  Ahmed  Pasha  is  the  first  Ottoman 
lyric  poet  with  any  claim  to  greatness  ;  but  he  was  soon 
eclipsed  by  Nejatz  and  Zatz,  who,  in  their  turn,  paled  before 
the  brilliancy  of  Baqz,  the  sun  of  'Osmanz*  lyric  poetry. 
Ahmed's  poems  lack  polish  and,  still  more,  originality; 
most  of  them  being  close  imitations,  if  not  indeed  trans- 
lations, of  Persian  models. 


(914  1508),  whose  real  name  was  '/sa  (i.  e.,  Jesus), 
was,  according  to  OJnali-Zada,  born  at  Adrianople,  but 
brought  up  at  Qastamwnz'.  At  Brwsa,  where  he  dwelt  with  the 
lyric  poet,  Ahmed  -Pasha,  whose  adventures  form  the  subject 
of  the  preceding  notice,  he  gained  his  first  laurels  by  the 
composition  of  two  gazels,  imitating,  but  surpassing  in  merit, 
one  by  a  poet  called  N«h,  which  was  then  much  spoken 
of  in  the  town.  His  poetical  talent  began  to  show  itself 
toward  the  close  of  the  reign  of  Sultan  Muhammed  II.,  to 

*Qur'«n,  Ixiviii.,  41. 


2i2  BIOGRAPHICAL  NOTICES 

whose  notice  he  chose  a  singular  method  of  introducing 
himself.  He  wrote  a  gazel  in  praise  of  the  Conqueror,  and 
fastened  it  in  the  front  of  the  turban  of  one  of  that  mon- 
arch's favorites  who  was  in  the  habit  of  playing  chess 
with  his  master.  The  first  time  they  seated  themselves  to  play, 
the  Sultan  noticed  the  piece  of  paper  on  his  friend's  tur- 
ban, took  it,  read  it,  and  admired  it,  and  forthwith  appointed 
the  poet  Secretary  of  the  Divan.  Shortly  after  obtaining 
this  post,  Nejati  dedicated  to  the  Conqueror  his  Winter 
Qasz'da,  and,  a  little  later,  his  Spring  Qaszda.  On  the 
death  of  Sultan  Muhammed  he  composed  a  poem  of  the 
same  class  in  honor  of  that  monarch's  son  and  successor, 
Bayezz'd  II.  An  extract  from  all  three  of  these  qasidas  will 
be  found  among  the  translations  from  Nejatz's  works  in  the 
present  volume. 

Nejatz  accompanied  Bayezzd's  son,  Prince  'Abdu'-llah,  to 
the  province  (shortly  before  the  kingdom)  of  Qaraman,  of 
which  the  latter  had  been  appointed  Governor  ;  and  there, 
on  that  Prince's  death,  he  wrote  an  elegy  in  which  occur 
these  lines  :  — 

O  heart!  from  out  Love's  register  thy  name  'erase; 

Go,  be  a  qalender,*  those  like  thee  hermits  praise ; 

Look  thou  no  more  upon  the  world,  for  from  the  eyes  of  him 

Tears  roll,  who  would  straight  at  the  sun's  bright  visage  gaze. 

Nejatz'  now  entered  the  service  of  Prince  Mahmwd,  another 
of  Bayezz'd's  sons,  with  whom  he  went  to  Magnz'sa  in  the  ca- 
pacity of  nish&nji.  On  the  occasion  of  this  promotion  he 
composed  some  lines  which  begin  thus :  — 

That  turn  of  time  has  changed  or  altered  me,  conceive  thou  ne'er; 
It  has  but  moved  a  ringlet  of  its  dark  musk-shedding  hair. 
The  secretary,  Fate,  from  out  of  Destiny's  Divan 
Has  marked  and  set  me  forth  as  sign  before  the  whole  world's  stare. 

Nejatz  collected  his  poems  into  a  Z?iwa«,  which  he  dedi- 
cated to  his  master,  Prince  Mahmwd,  at  whose  suggestion 
he  translated  into  Turkish  Gazalz's  famous  ethical  treatise 
Kimiy^-yi  Sa'-kdet,  <(  The  Alchemy  of  Happiness,*  f  and 

•A  wandering  dervish. 

tThis  has  been  translated  into  English  by  Mr.  H.  A.  Homes,  of 
New  York. 


BIOGRAPHICAL   NOTICES  213 


Jemarlu'-d-Dm  Muhammed's  historical  work, 
ffikayait  -ve  Zawz'w-'r-/?zwaya/,  <(  The  Collector  of  Stories 
and  the  Illuminator  of  Traditions.  w  On  the  death  of  this 
Prince,  Nejtftz  again  wrote  an  elegy  in  which  are  found  the 
words  : 

This  world  is  but  the  home  of  pain,  sorrow,  and  decay; 

That  which  they  call  the  court  of  joy  is  the  palace  of  dismay. 

At  last  a  winding-sheet  shall  shroud  us  every  one  : 

Alike  the  beggar's  lowly  plight,  the  emperor's  display. 

Thus  would  the  grave's  mouth  cry  to  thee,  had  it  a  tongue  to  speak  : 

«  False  !  vain  !  is  all  that  I  about  this  monster  dare  to  say  !  w  * 

Sultan  Bayez/d,  to  whom  he  brought  this  elegy,  gave  him 
his  choice  of  a  public  appointment  ;  but  Nejcztz,  who  above 
all  things  preferred  leisure  and  freedom  from  business,  con- 
tented himself  with  a  monthly  pension  of  1,000  aqchas.  He 
built  himself  a  house  in  Constantinople,  where  he  lived 
almost  entirely  alone.  He  had  several  sons,  all  of  whom 
died  before  him,  and  one  daughter,  who  was  married  to  a 
distinguished  philologist. 

Nejatz  was  a  true  poet  ;  he  wrote  indeed  no  mesnevis, 
only  gazels  and  qas'\das,  but  in  these  he  surpassed  all  his 
predecessors,  including  the  friend  of  his  youth,  Ahmed  Pasha, 
who  till  then  had  been  regarded  as  the  greatest  of  the 
Ottoman  lyric  poets.  His  immediate  successor  Zatz,  if  he 
equaled,  which  is  doubtful,  certainly  did  not  surpass  him  ; 
it  was  reserved  for  Baqe,  Sultan  of  all  Turkish  lyrists,  to 
excel  Nejatz,  even  as  he  had  himself  excelled  all  those  who 
had  preceded  him. 

MES/H/  (918=1512),  who  was  born  at  Pirishtina,  near 
Uskub,  was  a  poet  of  high  merit,  and  is  held  in  great  repute 
by  the  biographers.  His  strength,  like  that  of  Lami'z,  lies 
in  elegant  descriptions  of  the  beauties  of  nature,  but  unlike 
that  great  poet,  hg  wrote  no  mesnems  —  if  we  except  one 
shehr-eng\z  composed,  as  this  style  of  poem  always  is,  in 
the  mesnevi.  form  —  confining  himself  to  gazels  and  the 
like.  According  to  Qinali-Zada,  his  takhallus  of  Meszh/, 
*  Messianic,  w  or  (<  Follower  of  the  Messiah,  w  was  well  chosen  : 
w  it  is  fit  that  he  should  have  fame  through  that  name,  for 

*It  has  not  dared  to  tell  the  whole  truth;  the  monster  is  Death. 


214 

his  Jesus-like  words  would  raise  the  dead,  and  from  the 
channel  of  his  musky  reed  he  caused  the  Water  of  Life  to 
flow;  and  it  is  meet  that  that  poet  of  eloquence  should  be 
styled  a  second  Messiah  by  reason  of  his  soul-nurturing 
poesies  and  his  verses  that  life  bestow. w  *  He  became  Sec- 
retary of  the  Divan  to  the  Grand  Vezz'r  'Alz'  Pasha  the 
Eunuch,  who  gave  him  a  fief,  on  the  revenues  of  which  he 
lived.  He  owed  this  post  to  a  petition  in  verse,  a  qas'\da, 
a  few  distichs  of  which  are  translated  in  this  book.  This 
poem,  in  which  he  showed  unmistakable  signs  of  genius, 
was  addressed  to  the  Nishanji  Tajz'-Z0da  Ja'fer  Chelebi. 

However,  according  to  the  biographer  'vlshiq,  on  the 
authority  of  the  poet  Nedz'mz's  father,  likewise  a  servant  in 
'Alz'  Pasha's  employ,  Mesz'hz'  was  very  negligent  of  the 
duties  of  his  office  and  much  more  frequently  to  be  found 
in  taverns  and  other  places  of  amusement  than  in  the 
minister's  cabinet,  which,  on  being  learned  by  the  Sultan, 
was  the  cause  of  a  considerable  reduction  of  the  poet's 
salary.  On  'Ah*  Pasha's  death  Mesz'hz  sought  employ- 
ment from  the  Grand  Vezz'r  Y«nus  Pasha,  and  then 
from  Tajz'Zada  Ja'fer  Chelebi,  but  without  success  in 
either  case. 

Zatz',  the  poet-laureate,  who  was  jealous  of  Mesz'hz', 
charged  the  latter  with  having  appropriated  some  of  his 
ideas ;  the  accusation  was  conveyed  in  this  form  :  — 

O  Mes/ht  who   doth   honor   steal  must  surely  be  a  thief; 
Thou  art  King  of  verse's  city,  yet  somehow  is  this  thing  clear . 
That  from  Zati's  realm  of  poems  certain  thoughts  have  stolen  been, 
And  that  these  thy  Dz'wan  ent'ring,  there  in  altered  guise  appear. 

Mesz'hz'  thus  replied  :  — 

Do  not  think  that  I  stretch  forth  my  hand  unmeaning  thoughts  to  grasp ; 
I'm  no  infant,  food  by  others  mashed  and  chewed  that  I  should  eat; 
Knowing  that  the  soul  within  me  is  to  me  nought  save  a  loan, 
For  my  life  each  day  a  thousand  times  I  blush  with  shame  complete. 

Besides  his  Z>iwa«,  Mesz'hz  wrote  an  Insha.\  called  Gul-i 
Sad-Berg,  <(The  Hundred-Leaved  Rose,w  and,  as  has  been 
said,  a  Shehr-eng\z. 

*See  Note  189. 

f  A  collection  of  epistolary  forms. 


BIOGRAPHICAL   NOTICES  215 

HAR/M/  .•  PRINCE  QORQJJD  (918=1512)  was  son  of  Bayeztd 
II.  and  brother  of  Seh'm  I.  When  that  fierce  monarch 
prevailed  upon  his  father  to  abdicate  the  -throne,  Prince 
Ahmed,  another  brother,  raised  the  standard  of  revolt,  with 
the  result  of  his  own  defeat  and  death,  besides  affording 
Selz'm  an  excuse  for  ordering  the  execution  of  his  five 
nephews.  When  Prince  Qprqud  in  his  government  of  Sari- 
Khan  heard  the  tidings  of  this  massacre,  he  knew  what 
was  sure  to  be  Selzm's  purpose  regarding  himself,  and  tried 
hard  to  gain  to  his  side  the  janissaries  and  Sanjaq-Begis, 
vainly  hoping  to  ward  off  the  coming  blow.  Selzm  heard 
of  his  attempt,  and,  professing  to  go  upon  a  hunting  expe- 
dition, arrived  suddenly  with  a  formidable  body  of  horse- 
men before  Magm'sa,  the  capital  of  Qprqud's  province. 
The  Prince  had  barely  time  to  escape  with  a  single  attend- 
ant and  take  refuge  in  the  hills.  After  hiding  among  the 
rocks  for  twenty  days,  their  retreat  was  discovered  by  some 
Turkmans,  who  informed  the  Imperial  officers.  No  sooner 
was  the  Sultan  made  aware  of  the  discovery  of  his  brother 
than  he  ordered  Sinan,  the  ^japiji  J3ashi,  or  Grand  Cham- 
berlain, the  officer  of  the  Imperial  Court  in  whose  charge 
is  the  bow-string,  to  go  and  perform  his  duty.  Sinan 
arrived  in  the  middle  of  the  night,  awakened  Qprqud,  and 
announced  to  him  the  death-sentence  passed  upon  him  by 
the  Sultan ;  the  Prince  asked  for  an  hour's  respite,  which, 
being  granted,  he  occupied  in  writing  a  letter  in  verse  to 
his  brother,  in  which  he  bitterly  reproached  him  for  his 
cruelty;  and  then  gave  his  neck  to  the  fatal  cord. 

Qprqud,  though  not  possessing  the  talent  of  his  uncle, 
Prince  Jem,  was  nevertheless  a  fair  poet ;  he  was  besides 
well  versed  in  Muslim  Law  and  compiled  a  highly  valued 
collection  of  Fetwas,  called  Qprqudiyya;  he  encouraged 
poets  and  legists  by  every  means  in  his  power,  filling  many 
of  the  offices  of  his  provincial  court  with  men  of  letters ; 
he  was,  moreover,  very  fond  of  music,  and  composed  an 
air  known  as  Gada.-yi  Ruh,  <(  The  Nourishment  of  the  Soul." 

MIHR/  (92o=i'5i4  ca.)  was  a  poetess  of  Amasiya,  whose 
gazels,  breathing  ardent  love,  fully  justify  her  takhallus, 
which  means  at  once  <(  Follower  of  Love M  and  <(  Follower 


216  BIOGRAPHICAL   NOTICES 

of  the  Sun.*  Von  Hammer  styles  her  the  Ottoman  Sappho. 
She  was  deeply  in  love  with  the  fair  Iskender  Chelebi,  son 
of  Sinan  Pasha,  whom  she  frequently  alludes  to  —  some- 
times even  mentions  by  name  —  in  her  verses.  The  first 
of  her  poems  in  this  book  is  an  example.  Though  she 
thus  sang  aloud  her  love,  the  voice  of  slander  was  never 
raised  against  her  :  she  was  as  famed  for  virtue  as  for  tal- 
ent. She  carried  on  a  literary  correspondence  with  several 
of  the  poets  of  her  time,  notably  with  Zat*  and  Guvaht, 
to  the  latter  of  whom  she  dedicated  a  poem,  thanking  him 
for  all  his  kindnesses  toward  her.  She  appears  never  to 
have  been  married.  The  biographers  do  not  mention  the 
year  of  her  death. 

SEL/M/  :  SULTAN  SKL/M  I.  (926=1520)  ascended  the  throne 
in  the  year  918  (1512),  on  the  abdication  of  his  father, 
Bayezid  II.  Like  his  grandfather,  Muhammed  II.,  Seh'm 
was  a  great  warrior ;  in  a  short  reign  of  less  than  nine 
years  he  doubled  the  extent  of  the  Ottoman  Empire.  At 
first  he  spared  his  brothers,  but  some  of  them,  revolting 
against  him,  were  defeated,  captured,  and  executed.  His 
first  great  foreign  victory  was  on  the  field  of  Chaldiran, 
where  he  totally  defeated  Shah  Isma'il  and  the  chivalry  of 
Persia.  He  afterward  led  his  victorious  legions  to  Cairo, 
overthrew  the  Circassian  dynasty  of  the  Memlwks,  and 
added  Egypt  with  its  dependencies,  Syria  and  Hijaz,  to 
the  Ottoman  dominions. 

Seism  I.  is  the  only  Ottoman  Sultan  who  shaved  his 
beard  after  ascending  the  throne ;  the  Imperial  Princes  wear 
only  mustaches,  but  whenever  one  succeeds  to  the  throne, 
he  lets  the  whole  beard  grow.  On  being  asked  by  a  Muftz 
why  he  departed  from  the  established  custom,  Seh'm  face- 
tiously replied  that  he  shaved  his  beard  in  order  that  his 
vezz'rs  might  not  find  anything  whereby  to  lead  him.  This 
Sultan  changed,  likewise,  the  Imperial  turban;  he  aban- 
doned the  pointed  cap,  the  top  of  which  appeared  above 
the  surrounding  shawl,  that  had  been  worn  by  his  prede- 
cessors, and  adopted  in  its  place  a  head-dress  modeled  after 
the  tiara  of  the  ancient  Kings  of  Persia.  This  turban  re- 
ceived the  name  of  Sef\m\,  *  Seh'mean.®  A  glance  at  the 


BIOGRAPHICAL  NOTICES  217 

portraits  of  Muhammed  II.  and  Seh'm  I.,  in  this  volume, 
will  show  the  difference  between  the  two  head-dresses. 

Sultan  Seh'm  I.,  though  often  fierce  and  ruthless,  was  a 
great  lover  of  literature  and  patron  of  men  of  learning.  He 
left  a  D'nvain  of  poems  in  the  Persian  language,  which,  for 
literary  purposes,  he  seems  to  have  preferred  to  Turkish. 

By  his  conquest  of  Egypt,  Seh'm  gained  the  Khalifate 
for  the  House  of  'Osman.  Khalifa,  "Caliph,"  «.  e.,  « Suc- 
cessor of  the  Prophet  in  the  government  of  the  Muslims, * 
is  properly  an  elective,  not  a  hereditary,  office.  The  titular 
Khah'fa  of  the  Muslim  world  at  this  time  was  a  descend- 
ant of  the  House  of  'Abbas,  who  was  resident  in  Cairo 
when  that  city  was  taken  by  Seh'm.  An  arrangement,  at 
once  recognized  by  the  Qureyshz  Sherz'f  of  Mekka,  was  ar- 
rived at  between  this  Prince  and  the  Sultan,  whereby  the 
former  conferred  upon  Seh'm  the  rank  and  title  of  Khah'fa, 
together  with  all  the  influence  which  that  office  commands. 
The  title  of  Khah'fa  has  ever  since  been  borne  by  the  Sul- 
tans of  Constantinople,  and  their  claim  thereto  is,  and 
ever  has  been,  acknowledged  by  the  world  of  Sunnz  Islam, 
Morocco,  Masqit,  and  Zanzibar  alone  excepted.* 

MUHIBB/.-  SULTAN  SULKYM^N  I.  (974=1566),  surnamed 
j|>a«u«i,  <(  the  Lawgiver,  *  the  most  illustrious  of  the  Otto- 
man monarchs,  succeeded  his  father,  Seh'm,  the  conqueror 
of  Egypt,  in  926  (1520).  It  would  occupy  too  much 
space  to  recount  the  many  glories  of  Suleyman's  reign. 
The  people,  weary  of  the  vexatious  severity  of  Seh'm, 
hailed  with  delight  the  accession  of  a  prince  known  to  be 
at  once  generous  and  brave  :  they  saw  in  his  name  —  that 
of  the  greatest  of  the  Jewish  Kings  —  a  happy  augury,  and 
they  were  not  deceived.  His  first  military  exploits  were 
the  reduction  of  Belgrade  and  the  capture  of  Rhodes,  two 
strongholds  which  had  foiled  even  his  illustrious  ancestor, 
Muhammed  II.  Then  followed  the  subjugation  of  Hun- 
gary, the  king  of  which  country  died  with  all  his  chivalry 
on  the  battlefield  of  Mohacz.  Three  years  later  the  Sul- 
tan laid  siege  to  Vienna;  but  not  even  his  happy  star  and 

•See  Mr.  Redhouse's  «  Vindication  of  the  Ottoman  Sultan's  Title  of 
Caliph. »  London:  Effingham  Wilson.  1877. 


218  BIOGRAPHICAL  NOTICES 

the  valor  of  the  Ottomans  prevailed  to  capture  that  famous 
city.  Suleyman's  attention  was  not,  however,  confined  to 
Christian  foes ;  he  led  several  expeditions  against  Persia, 
and  added  Erzvan,  Van,  Mosul,  and  Bagdad  to  his  empire. 

These  were  likewise  halcyon  days  for  the  Turks  upon  the 
seas  :  the  crescent  flag  waved  proudly  over  the  blue  waters 
of  the  Mediterranean,  and  the  Christian  mariners  trembled 
when  they  heard  the  name  of  Torgud,  who,  after  a  glorious 
career,  died,  with  countless  others  of  the  beleaguering  Otto- 
mans, on  the  blood-stained  shores  of  Malta ;  or  of  Piyala 
Pasha,  who  announced  his  victory  at  Jerba  by  a  vessel 
which  entered  the  Golden  Horn  with  the  high  standard  of 
Spain  trailing  in  the  sea  from  the  stern.  But  no  Ottoman 
Qapudan*  ever  inspired  the  foes  of  Islam  with  greater  ter- 
ror, or  rendered  his  sovereign  more  valuable  services,  than 
Khayru-'d-Dzn  Pasha,  whom  the  Italians  called  the  Corsair 
Barbarossa; — Tripoli,  Tunis,  and  Algiers  were  added  by 
him  to  the  Sultan's  dominions.  The  Admiral  Szdz  'Ah' 
planted  the  Ottoman  standard  on  the  shores  of  India.  This 
Sidi  'Ah*  was  a  poet  and  a  man  of  science  as  well  as  a 
sailor;  several  works  by  him  on  geography,  mathematics, 
and  navigation  still  remain.  Suleyman  died  in  his  tent 
before  Szigeth,  in  Hungary,  a  few  days  too  soon  to  hear 
the  glad  tidings  of  that  stronghold's  fall. 

This  monarch  is  perhaps  the  brightest  ornament  of  the 
House  of  'Osman;  he  was  endowed  with  almost  every 
quality  which  goes  to  make  a  great  sovereign :  a  soul  noble 
and  generous;  a  genius  vast  and  enterprising;  warlike 
courage ;  love  of  justice ;  and  respect  for  humanity.  His 
greatest  weakness  was  his  blind  passion  for  the  Russian  slave- 
girl  Khurrem,  who  was  all  unworthy  of  her  master's  de- 
votion ;  it  was  through  her  intrigues  that,  led  to  believe 
his  gifted  and  noble-minded  son,  Mustafa,  was  about  to 
rise  in  revolt  against  his  authority,  he  gave  the  order  for 
his  execution,  and,  in  so  doing,  deprived  Turkey  of  one 
who  bade  fair  to  be  among  her  most  illustrious  sovereigns. 
Among  the  brightest  jewels  in  Suleyman's  crown  is  the  en- 
couragement which  he  always  extended  to  letters ;  his  reign 

*  From  the  Italian  capitana,  a  naval  captain ;  the  Lord  High  Ad- 
miral is  called  Qapudan  Pasha. 


BIOGRAPHICAL   NOTICES  219 

is  the  golden  era  of  his  nation's  literature.  A  poet  himself, 
as  well  as  a  friend  of  poets,  he  has  left  a  Diiua.n  of  gazels^ 
in  which  he  takes  the  name  of  Muhibbz. 

Suleyman  I.  had  a  grave,  calm  cast  of  countenance,  a 
high,  wide  forehead,  and  rather  dark  skin.  He  modified 
the  head-dress  adopted  by  his  father,  Sel/m  I.,  making  it 
higher  and  not  so  round  ;  it  was  surmounted  by  two  heron 
plumes,  and  the  point  of  the  cap  was  visible  above  the 
muslin  that  formed  the  turban.  This  fashion  of  head-dress 
is  called  Tusuji,  (<  Josephean,"  probably  after  the  patriarch 
Joseph,  who  is  a  type  of  wisdom  as  well  as  of  beauty. 


(933=1526),  of  Qaraman,  was  a  secretary  to  Prince 
'Abdu-'llah,  one  of  Sultan  Bayezz'd's  sons.  The  most  note- 
worthy incident  in  his  career  is  its  close.  When  the  Grand 
Vezz'r  Ibrahz'm  returned  from  the  capture  of  Ofen,  among 
the  spoils  that  he  brought  to  Constantinople  were  certain 
statues  which  had  adorned  the  royal  palace  of  the  Hun- 
garian city  ;  these  statues,  which  the  Turks  looked  upon  as 
idols,  were  set  up  in  the  Hippodrome  in  front  of  Ibrahz'm's 
mansion.  Figanz',  playing  on  the  Vezz'r's  name  Ibrahz'm,  the 
Oriental  form  of  Abraham,  and  referring  to  the  well-known 
story  in  the  Qur'an  where  that  patriarch  destroys  his  father's 
idols,  composed  this  couplet:  — 

Two  Ibraht'ms  have  upon  the  earth  appeared  ; 
Idols  were  o'erthrown  by  one,  by  one  upreared.  * 

This  witticism  cost  the  poet  dear;  for  the  offended  Vezz'r 
caused  him  to  be  paraded  through  the  streets  of  Constanti- 
nople on  the  back  of  a  donkey  with  his  face  toward  its 
tail,  and  then  put  to  death.  Figanz'  wrote  an  Iskender- 
TVawza,  and  a  Heft-Peyker,  (<  Seven  Faces,0  in  imitation  of 
Nizarm's  poems  of  the  same  names. 


(928=1531),  one  of  the  very  best  and,  at  the 
same  time,  most  fruitful  writers  of  the  Ottomans,  passed,  so 
far  as  we  know,  a  quiet  and  uneventful  life;  all  his  time 
and  attention  seem  to  have  been  sedulously  devoted  to 


*  Du  Ibrahim  &med  be-deyr-i  jiha.n  ; 
Tek  but-skiken  shud  diger  but-nish&n, 


220  BIOGRAPHICAL  NOTICES 

study,  and  very  great  indeed  is  the  success  which  he 
achieved  in  the  domain  of  poesy.  In  grace  and  originality 
his  poetry  almost  rivals  that  of  Baqz,  while  it  far  exceeds 
it  in  quantity. 

Muhammed-bin-'  Osman-bin-Naqqash  (which  is  Lami't's 
name  in  full)  was  born  in  Br»sa.  The  word  Naqq&sh, 
which  means  both  "painter"  and  "  embroiderer, "  may  in 
this  instance  bear  either  signification,  indeed  it  was  prob- 
ably chosen  on  that  account ;  for  we  are  told  that  the  grand- 
father of  the  poet,  besides  being  a  celebrated  painter, 
studied  the  art  of  embroidery  in  Semerqand,  and  brought 
thence  into  Turkey  the  first  embroidered  saddle.  After 
studying  for  a  time  in  his  native  city  (we  do  not  hear  that 
he  ever  left  it),  Lami'z  turned  his  thoughts  to  the  mystic 
doctrines  of  the  dervishes,  and  entering  the  Naqishbendz 
Order,  was  for  long  a  disciple  of  the  Sheykh  Seyyid 
Ahmed  Bukharz'/  eventually  he  became  himself  the  Dervish- 
Sheykh  of  Br«sa. 

Among  his  prose  writings  are :  translations  of  J<zrm's 
famous  work,  Nefah&tu^l-Uns,  "Breaths  of  Friendship,* 
under  the  title  of  FutMhu-sh-Sh&hid\n  f,  Terv\hi-'l-Qulubi- 
*l-Muja.hid\n,  "  Disclosures  of  the  Witnesses  for  Perfuming 
the  Hearts  of  the  Champions, "  and  of  the  same  author's 
Sheiioa.hiduSn-Nubuwet,  "  Witness-bearers  of  the  Apostle- 
ship.*  He  likewise  translated  into  Turkish  the  Sherefu-'l- 
fnsa.n,  "The  Nobility  of  Man,"  Fettahz'  of  Nzshapwr's 
mystic  romance,  Husn  u  Dil,  "Beauty  and  Heart,"* 
and  a  collection  of  anecdotes,  called  ' Ibret-nuntSi,  "Example- 
Shower." 

Instead  of  choosing  as  subjects  for  his  mesnevis  the  oft- 
told  stories  of  Leylz  and  Mejnwn,  Ywsuf  and  Zuleykha, 
and  Khusrev  and  Shm'n,  Lami'r  selected  three  of  the  most 
ancient  romances  of  Persia  as  the  threads  upon  which  to 
weave  the  web  of  his  poetry :  Wa.miq  and  '  Azr&^  Veysa 
and  JR&min,  and  Ebs&l  and  Sela.ma.n  are,  all  three,  tales  be- 
longing to  a  remote  antiquity ;  indeed  some  see  in  Wamiq 
the  old  Hindw  poet  Valrmki,  and  in  Veysa  the  sage  Vyasa. 
Among  other  poetical  works  are:  a  Shehr-eng\z  of  Brwsa, 
u  Periv&na,  "The  Taper  and  the  Moth,"  Gu  u 

*  Translated  into  English  by  Price.     1827. 


BIOGRAPHICAL   NOTICES  221 

Chevga.n,  «  The  Ball  and  Bat,»  Heft-Peyker,  «  The  Seven 
Faces,  "  and  Maqtel-i  Huseyn,  (<  The  Martyrdom  of  Huseyn." 
Besides  all  these,  Lami'z  left  a  large  DiTvan  of  gazels^ 
qas\das,  and  such  like;  and,  at  the  command  of  Sultan 
Suleyman,  translated  the  Persian  poets  Ansarz  and  Jurjam. 
In  prose  and  verse  he  composed  two  Munazara.fs  or  (<  Dis- 
putes, "  one  between  Nefs  u  Ruh,  (<  Flesh  and  Spirit,*  the 
other,  from  which  our  extracts  are  taken,  between  Beh&r 
u  Khiz&n,  (<  Spring  and  Autumn.  "  Von  Hammer  devotes 
174  pages  of  his  <(  History"  to  this  poet  and  his  works. 


PASHA-Z^DA  (941=1534).  Ahmed  the  son  of 
Kemal  Pasha  is  a  writer  of  great  note  in  the  annals  of  Ot- 
toman literature.  One  day,  while  still  a  boy,  he  accompanied 
his  father,  who  was  a  pasha  of  eminence  under  Muhammed 
II.,  to  the  Grand  Vezzr's  divan,  when  the  son  of  one  of 
the  foremost  men  of  the  Empire,  Ahmed  Evrenos-Oglu  (a 
famous  name,  this  Evrenos,  in  old  Turkish  history),  en- 
tered the  council-chamber  in  grand  array,  and  was  there 
received  with  all  due  deference.  Shortly  afterward,  in  came 
an  old  man  meanly  attired  in  a  worn-out  dress,  to  whom 
the  Grand  Vezz'r  paid  a  yet  higher  respect  than  that  which 
he  had  shown  to  the  descendant  of  the  ancient  and  noble 
house.  This  was  the  great  legist  Molla  Lutf/  of  Toqat. 
There,  on  the  spot,  the  admiring  Ahmed  resolved  to  aban- 
don the  military  profession  and  devote  himself  to  the  Law. 
He  found  a  patron  and  a  helper  in  the  poet  Mu'eyyed- 
Zada,  then  ^l&ziyyu-  7-'  Asker  of  R#m-Eyli,  through  whose 
influence  he  obtained  several  professorships,  one  after  an- 
other, and  at  whose  suggestion  the  Sultan  ordered  him  to 
write  a  history  of  the  Ottoman  Power.  Under  Selzm  I., 
Kemal  Pasha-Zada  attained  the  highest  legal  position  in  the 
Empire,  and,  as  holder  of  such,  accompanied  that  Sultan  on 
his  Egyptian  expedition.  By  the  imperial  command  he 
translated  on  the  march  the  historical  work  entitled,  Nu- 
j\\mu-  'z-  Z&hira  Ji  Mufaki-'  l-Misri  ve1  l-£>&hira,  (<  Shining 
Stars  concerning  the  Kings  of  Egypt  and  Cairo  "  ;  day 
by  day  he  gave  his  royal  master  the  pages  as  they  were 
finished,  in  this  way  acquainting  him  with  the  details  of 
the  history  of  that  country  he  was  about  to  conquer. 


222  BIOGRAPHICAL   NOTICES 

The  biographers  have  preserved  many  stories  of  Kemal 
Pasha-Zada's  ready  wit  and  clever  answers,  one  of  which, 
related  by  Qmali-Zada,  will  suffice  here.  One  day  when 
Sultan  Selz'm,  with  the  poet  in  his  retinue,  was  passing  by 
Qaraman,  he  observed  a  whirlwind,  whereupon  he  inquired 
whether  there  was  any  reason  for  the  frequency  of  whirl- 
winds in  the  land  of  Qaraman.  <(The  capital  of  this  prov- 
ince of  Qaraman,*  answered  Ahmed,  (<  is  Qpnya  ;  there 
dwelt  Mevlana  Jelalu-'d-Dzn,  and  therefore  do  the  very 
hills  and  stones  and  dust  of  this  land  perform  the  Mevlevz 
dance.  w  Ahmed  Kemal  Pasha-Zada  lies  buried  at  Constan- 
tinople, outside  the  Adrianople  Gate.  He  left  a  collection 
of  historical  anecdotes,  called  the  Nig&rist&n,  <(The  Picture 
Gallery,  *  also  a  poem  on  the  favorite  subject  of  Ywsuf  and 
Zuleykha,  which  is  regarded  as  his  master-work. 


(94i==i534)  is  the  takhallus  of  Muhammed  Chelebi, 
a  distinguished  poet  of  Br«sa,  whose  jovial  but  dissolute 
habits  gained  for  him  the  nickname  Deli  Bir^der^  <(  Mad 
Brother.  B  He  commenced  his  career  as  a  muderris,  or 
teacher,  at  the  medresa  of  Sultan  Bayez/d  in  his  native 
city,  but  being  introduced  to  Qprqud,  the  gifted  but  un- 
fortunate son  of  Bayezz'd  II.,  he  entered  the  circle  of  that 
Prince's  boon  companions,  and  was  one  of  those  who  ac- 
companied him  on  his  mission  to  Egypt.  On  the  execution 
of  his  patron,  Ga.za.li  retired  to  a  cell  at  the  foot  of  Olym- 
pus, near  his  native  Brwsa,  and  there,  for  a  time,  devoted 
himself  to  the  solitary  life  of  a  dervish.  But  tiring  of  se- 
clusion, he  again  sought  office,  and  was  appointed  profes- 
sor at  various  colleges,  one  after  another  ;  finding  teaching, 
however,  as  little  suited  to  his  taste  as  meditation,  he 
wrote  a  petition  to  the  Sultan  and  received  a  monthly  al- 
lowance of  i,  OCX)  aqchas.  He  then  took  up  his  abode  at 
Beshik-Tash  on  the  Bosphorus,  where  he  built  a  mosque,  a 
cell,  and  a  bath.  His  patron  at  this  time  was  the  Defter- 
dar  Iskender  Chelebi,  on  whose  death  he  deemed  it  best  to 
retire  to  Mekka,  where  he  built  a  mosque,  and  laid  out  a 
garden,  in  which  he  entertained  pilgrims  and  lived  pleas- 
antly till  his  death.  He  is  buried  in  the  sacred  city,  in 
the  court  of  his  own  mosque. 


BIOGRAPHICAL   NOTICES  223 

Gazal/  wrote  for  Prince  Qorqud  a  work  entitled  Da.jiiu- 
'l-fTumnmm  ve  fta-flu^l-Gummum,  (<  The  Dispeller  of  Cares 
and  the  Remover  of  Grief  s,^  which  was  so  licentious  that 
the  Prince  dismissed  the  author  from  his  court.  The  bath 
which  he  afterward  built  at  Constantinople  was  a  meeting- 
place  for  all  the  dissolute  and  profligate  of  the  capital,  and 
a  den  of  every  vice  ;  in  consequence  of  which  the  Grand 
Vez/r  Ibrahz'm  Pasha,  as  soon  as  he  heard  of  the  way  in 
which  it  was  conducted,  sent  a  hundred  janissaries  who 
leveled  it  with  the  ground.  Shortly  afterward,  Deli  Birader 
got  himself  into  another  difficulty  which  necessitated  his 
journey  to  Arabia. 

This  poet  was  not  without  talent  ;  he  was  a  beautiful 
calligraphist,  understood  music,  had  a  ready  store  of  wit, 
and  knew  something  of  medicine.  In  the  gardens  of  his 
bath  (for  the  building  of  which  the  Sultan  as  well  as  the 
Vez/r,  who  afterward  pulled  it  down,  had  subscribed)  he 
provided  all  manner  of  pleasures  for  his  guests  ;  fruits,  sweet- 
meats, coffee,  opium,  and  all  the  other  delights  of  the  Eastern 
voluptuary  were  there  in  abundance. 


CHELEBI  (944=1537),  the  son  of  a  sword-cutler  of 
Uskub,  was  noted  for  his  drunken  and  abandoned  life. 
Along  with  two  other  poets  he  was  summoned  to  attend 
Sultan  Selz'm  on  his  Egyptian  campaign,  in  order  to  afford 
some  amusement  to  that  monarch  during  the  tedious  march  ; 
but  so  awkwardly  did  Ishaq  and  his  companions  behave 
themselves  on  their  introduction  to  Selz'm,  even  pushing  him 
with  their  swords,  tl.at  that  passionate  Sultan  ordered  them 
to  be  beheaded  with  their  own  unmanageable  weapons. 
This  sentence,  however,  he  immediately  commuted  to  the 
bastinado.  The  next  day,  again  summoned  to  the  Im- 
perial presence,  the  three,  in  unseemly  ragged  garments, 
came  before  the  Sultan  :  thinking  to  amuse  him,  they 
began  to  repeat  ribald  verses,  whereupon  Sel/m  turned 
his  back  on  them,  saying:  <(  I  desired  companions,  not 
buffoons." 

Z^T/  (953=1546),  one  of  the  poetic  lights  of  the  reigns  of 
Bayezzd    II.    and    Sel/m    I.,    was    born    in    the    province  of 


224  BIOGRAPHICAL   NOTICES 

Qarasi,  where  his  father  followed  the  occupation  of  a  shoe- 
maker. The  youthful  poet,  not  relishing  his  father's  trade, 
set  out  for  Constantinople,  where,  after  many  struggles,  he 
succeeded  in  making  his  fortune.  During  the  early  period 
of  his  life  in  the  capital,  he  used  to  sell  his  poems  to  gain 
his  daily  bread,  and  to  further  eke  out  his  livelihood,  he 
exercised  the  calling  of  a  geomancer,  or  diviner,  by  means  of 
figures  traced  in  sand.  On  some  of  his  writings  coming 
into  the  hands  of  Sultan  Bayezz'd  and  his  ministers,  Zatt's 
abilities  were  recognized,  and  he  was  forthwith  suitably 
provided  for.  During  the  reigns  of  Bayezzd  and  his  son 
Sel/m,  Zati  enjoyed  the  favor  of  the  great  ;  but  the  second 
of  these  sovereigns  had  an  unamiable  fancy  for  executing 
his  ministers,  and  Zatz's  patrons  were  put  to  death  with  the 
rest ;  in  consequence  of  which  the  poet  found  himself,  on 
the  accession  of  Suleym<zn,  without  a  friend.  Certain  fiefs 
had  been  made  over  to  him  by  Sultan  Bayezz'd,  on  the 
revenues  of  which  he  lived;  but  early  in  Suleyman's  reign 
a  decree  was  issued  requiring  all  who  did  not  render  military 
service  to  give  up  their  holdings ;  so  in  his  old  age  Zatt 
was  left  once  more  resourceless.  He  again  had  recourse  to 
geomancy ;  but  he  died  in  a  few  months,  and  was  buried  by 
the  Adrianople  Gate,  where  so  many  poets  rest. 

Of  Zatt's  lengthy  poems  may  be  mentioned,  Shem^  u 
Pertua.na,  w  The  Tapir  and  the  Moth,"  Ferrukh  N&ma, 
«The  Book  of  Ferrukh, »  « Kshiq  u  Ma^shuq,  «  The  Lover 
and  the  Loved,*  and  Gul  u  Nev-R\\z,  (<  The  Rose  and  the 
New- Year.  * 

LUTF/  (957=1550),  the  Grand  Vezzr  and  brother-in-law 
of  Sultan  Suleymotn,  was  by  birth  an  Albanian.  Unlike 
his  predecessor,  Ayaz  Pasha,  Lutfz  Pasha  entertained  a 
profound  contempt  for  women.  A  quarrel  with  his  wife, 
in  which  he  was  guilty  of  outrageous  misconduct,  occasioned 
his  disgrace.  Suleyman,  highly  displeased,  took  the  Princess 
away  from  him,  dismissed  him  from  office,  and  banished 
him  to  Demitoka,  where  he  died.  Lutfz  wrote  several 
works  during  his  exile,  conspicuous  among  which  is  a  his- 
tory of  the  Ottoman  Empire  brought  down  to  twelve  years 
before  his  own  fall. 


BIOGRAPHICAL  NOTICES  225 

MUKHLIS/  .•  PRINCE  MUSTAFA  (960=1552).  This  Prince, 
whom  all  accounts  represent  as  being  talented,  courageous, 
generous,  and  refined,  was  heir  to  Suleyman's  throne,  having 
been  born  before  any  of  the  children  of  the  slave-girl 
Khurrem.  That  crafty  Russian,  desirous  of  securing  the 
succession  for  her  own  son  Selz'm,  contrived,  in  collusion 
with  her  son-in-law  the  Grand  Vezrr  Rustem  Pasha,  to  per- 
suade the  Sultan,  when  on  the  point  of  setting  out  on  a 
Persian  campaign,  that  Mustafa  was  about  to  head  a  re- 
volt for  the  purpose  of  placing  himself  upon  the  throne, 
and  that  the  only  way  to  secure  his  crown  during  his  ab- 
sence was  to  crush  the  germ  of  the  evil  by  the  execution 
of  his  son.  Suleyman  most  unhappily  fell  into  the  snare; 
it  was  the  great  mistake  of  his  life  :  it  took  the  reins  of 
the  empire  from  the  hands  of  a  brave  and  skillful  soldier 
and  placed  them  in  those  of  a  wretched  profligate.  When 
the  army  reached  Eregli  on  its  eastward  march,  Prince 
Mustafa  was  conducted  to  one  of  the  Imperial  tents,  and 
there,  instead  of  being  received  in  audience  by  his  father  as 
he  expected,  he  was  set  upon  by  the  Mutes,  the  private  ex- 
ecutioners of  the  Imperial  Court,  and  strangled. 

KHIY/IL/  (964=1556),  a  native  of  Asia  Minor,  came  to 
Constantinople  as  a  qalender  of  the  Order  of  Baba  '  Ah*. 
He  found  a  patron  in  the  Defterdar  Iskender  Chelebi,  who 
introduced  him  to  Ibrahim  Pasha,  the  Grand  Vezzr,  through 
whose  influence  he  gained  admission  to  the  innermost  circle 
of  Sultan  Suleyman  's  companions.  He  excused  the  silence 
which  he  displayed  when  before  the  great  Padishah  and 
his  favorites,  the  most  illustrious  poets  of  the  golden  period 
of  Ottoman  literature,  with  these  lines  :  — 

To  such  a  lofty  circle  hath  Khiyal/  entrance  gained, 

That  there  the  rose  of  Eden  had  for  shame  unoped  remained. 


PRINCE  B^YEZ/D  (969=1561),  one  of  the  sons  of 
Sultan  Suleyman  I.,  who  after  the  murder  of  the  unfor- 
tunate Mustafa,  led  astray  by  the  treacherous  promptings  of 
his  tutor  Lala  Mustafa,  sought  to  oppose  the  succession  of 
his  brother  Sel/m.  He  raised  an  army  wherewith  to  make 
good  his  claim  ;  but  being  totally  defeated  on  the  plain  of 
'5 


226  BIOGRAPHICAL   NOTICES 

Qpnya,  fled  into  Persia.  There  he  was  at  first  kindly  re- 
ceived, but  the  Shah,  pressed  by  the  Sultan,  whose  mind 
was  poisoned  against  his  son  by  lying  stories  and  dark  in- 
trigues, gave  up  the  hapless  refugee  to  the  Ottoman  mes- 
sengers, by  whom  he  and  his  followers  were  put  to  death. 
This  Prince  is  described  as  being  most  amiable  and  accom- 
plished, and  beloved  by  the  people  and  the  soldiery,  many 
of  the  latter  accompanying  him  in  his  Persian  exile,  where 
they  shared  his  fate. 

FUZ£/L/  (970=1562),  of  Bagdad,  is  one  of  the  ten  great 
poets  of  Sultan  Suleyman's  reign.  The  biographers  give  no 
particulars  of  his  life,  save  that  he  was  resident  in  Bagdad 
when  that  city  was  taken  by  the  Ottomans  under  Suley- 
man.  Judging  from  the  great  number  of  words  and  phrases 
belonging  to  the  Persian -Turkish  dialect  that  are  to  be  met 
with  in  his  poems,  Fuz^h'  would  seem  to  have  been  an 
Azerbaijani  Turk.  The  fact  that  he  was  living  in  Bagdad 
at  the  time  of  the  Ottoman  conquest  gives  color  to  this 
supposition;  for  before  its  capture  by  Suleyman  that  city 
had  formed  part  of  the  dominions  of  the  Shah  of  Persia. 

Fuz«lf  s  Leyli  and  Mejnun  contains  many  touching  pas- 
sages of  great  beauty ;  and  his  D\wa.n  is  distinguished, 
even  among  those  of  Turkish  poets,  by  its  flowery  and 
picturesque  imagery;  the  reader  frequently  comes  upon 
passages  of  great  profundity,  which  prove  the  writer  to  have 
been  an  earnest  thinker  and  a  learned  scholar  as  well  as  an 
elegant  poet.  He  translated  the  famous  Persian  work  of 
Huseyn  Kashifz  on  the  death  of  'Alz  and  his  sons,  entitled 
Ravzatu-^sh-Shuheda.,  (<  The  Parterre  of  the  Martyrs,8  into 
beautiful  prose,  under  the  name  Had\qatu-s-Su'lad&,  <(  The 
Garden  of  the  Blest.*  He  further  wrote  a  mystic  poem 
called  Beng  u  JB&ba,  <(  Opium  and  Wine.* 

FAZL/  (971=1563) — whose  real  name  was  Muhammed  — 
nicknamed  j^ara  FazT\,  (<  Black  Fazh',"  was  son  °f  a  saddler 
of  Constantinople.  In  youth  he  was  a  dervish  of  the 
Khalvetz  Order,  and  in  civil  occupation  a  clerk ;  his  love  of 
poetry,  however,  attracted  him  first  to  Nejatz,  and  then  to 
the  poet-laureate,  Zati,  whose  disciple  he  became.  At  the 


BIOGRAPHICAL   NOTICES  227 

great  festival  with  which  Sultan  Suleyman  I.  celebrated 
the  circumcision  of  his  three  sons  Muhammed,  Mustafa, 
and  Seh'm,  Zatt,  after  reciting  a  qas\da  of  his  own,  requested 
permission  to  recite  one  by  his  pupil  Fazh'.  Suleyman 
recognized  and  appreciated  the  student's  talent,  and  when 
Prince  Muhammed  was  shortly  afterward  appointed  governor 
of  Magm'sa,  Fazh'  accompanied  him  as  Secretary  of  Divan. 
On  the  death  of  Muhammed,  Fazh'  became  Secretary  to 
Prince  Mustafa  (whose  brief  career  has  already  been  noticed), 
with  whom  he  remained  till  his  tragic  end.  He  then  entered 
the  service  of  Prince  Seh'm  (afterward  Sultan  Seh'm  II.), 
who,  in  the  year  970  (1562),  appointed  him  Secretary  of 
State.  Next  year  Fazh'  died  at  Katahiya,  aged  about  50. 
Fazh'  wrote  a  romantic  poem,  entitled  Hum^i  and 
Uuma.yvin,  founded  on  a  Persian  model.  Two  others  of  his 
works  are  imitations  of  the  Persian,  MaUa^u^l-En-v^r, 
"The  Rising-Point  of  Lights,  w  modeled  after  Nizarm's 
Lujjetu-1-Esrz.r,  <(  The  Ocean  of  Secrets,  *  and  the  Nakhlis- 
fan,  <(The  Palm-Grove,  w  after  Sa'dz''s  famous  Gulist&n, 
"Rose-Garden."  He  wrote  besides,  gazels,  qasidas,  and 
rubsS'is.  The  gem  of  his  works,  and  his  chief  title  to  glory 
is  his  romantic  poem  Gul  u  Bulbul,  (<  The  Rose  and  the 
Nightingale,  "  the  simple  but  impassioned  story  of  which  is 
clad  in  the  richest  and  most  beautiful  language.  In  this 
work,  called  by  Von  Hammer  his  swan-song,  for  he  finished 
it  but  two  years  before  his  death,  he  is  in  no  way  indebted 
to  any  Persian  or  Arab  master  ;  it  is  a  genuine  Ottoman  poem, 
original  alike  in  conception  and  expression. 


(975=1567),  Jelal-Zada  Mustafa,  was  the  great 
historian  of  Suleyman's  reign,  during  which  he  occupied 
some  of  the  highest  offices  of  state.  He  was  an  eyewit- 
ness of  many  of  the  events  recorded  in  his  history.  In 
1524  he  was  promoted  to  the  rank  of  Re'z's  Efendi,  and, 
ten  years  later,  in  the  Bagdad  campaign,  to  that  of  Nish&nji^ 
or  *  Cipher-writer  to  the  Sultan.*  This  office  still  exists  in 
Turkey,  but  the  holder  is  now  called  Tugra-kesh,*  Nisham 
is  another  form  of  Nishanji,  and  its  employment  here  offers 

*  See  Mr.  W.  A.  Clouston's  <(  Arabian  Poetry  for  English  Readers,® 
page  434. 


228  BIOGRAPHICAL   NOTICES 

an  example  of  a  poet  choosing  his  takhallus  from  his 
occupation,  not  an  uncommon  thing,  as  we  have  seen  in 
the  Introduction. 

SEL/M/;  SULTAN  SEL/M  II.  (982=1574).  One  day,  near 
the  beginning  of  the  First  Rebz'  of  the  year  974  (Sep- 
tember, 1566),  the  cannons  of  Leander's  Tower  announced 
to  the  people  of  Constantinople  that  the  great  Suleyman 
was  no  more,  and  that  his  son  Seh'm  was  Sultan  in  his 
stead  —  very  bad  news,  had  they  known  it.  Seh'm' s  mother 
was  the  Russian  slave-girl  known  by  the  Persian  name  of 
Khurrem,  aGay,w*  who  had  gained  a  great  and  pernicious 
influence  over  her  master,  and,  after  a  series  of  dark  and 
cruel  intrigues,  culminating  in  the  murder  of  the  gallant 
Prince  Mustafa,  had  managed  to  secure  the  succession  for 
her  son.  The  character  of  this  son  was  the  very  opposite 
to  that  of  his  illustrious  father.  A  dissolute  drunkard,  who, 
instead  of  attending  to  the  affairs  of  his  empire,  shut  him- 
self up  in  his  harem,  Seh'm  II.  is  notable  in  history  as  the 
first  Ottoman  Sultan  who  shrank  from  leading  his  armies 
in  person.  But  the  empire  of  Muhammed  the  Conqueror 
and  Suleyman  the  Lawgiver  was  too  strongly  built  to  fall 
to  pieces  even  under  the  rule  of  so  effeminate  a  sovereign ; 
it  maintained  all  its  splendor  and  even  extended  its  limits 
by  the  conquest  of  Cyprus  from  the  Venetians ;  —  the  wine 
of  the  island  is  said  to  have  been  the  attraction  in  the  eyes  of 
the  despicable  semi-Russian  Sultan.  Toward  the  close 
of  his  reign  a  combination  of  all  the  Christian  powers  of 
the  Mediterranean  gained  a  naval  victory  over  the  Ottomans 
at  Lepanto.  Although  these  Christians  made  a  great  noise 
about  this,  it  was  for  them  but  a  barren  triumph ;  for 
when,  a  year  or  two  later,  the  Venetians  sued  for  peace, 
they  had  not  only  to  agree  to  the  retention  of  Cyprus  by 
the  Sultan,  but  to  pay  him  all  the  expenses  of  the  conquest. 

SHEMS/  Pasha  (988=1580),  the  confidant  and  governor 
of  the  palace  of  Seh'm  II.  and  Murad  III.,  was  born  in 
Hungary.  He  was  the  last  scion  of  the  House  of  Qjzil- 
Ahmedli,  which,  on  the  partition  of  the  Seljwqz  Empire, 

•Europeans  call  her  Roxelana. 


BIOGRAPHICAL  NOTICES  229 

had  reigned  on  the  southern  coast  of  the  Black  Sea.  This 
family  —  whose  lands,  like  those  of  all  the  other  petty 
Turkish  chiefs  in  these  parts,  had  been  swallowed  up  by 
the  ever-growing  Empire  of  Orkhan  and  his  successors  — 
traced  its  descent  from  Khalid-bin-Veh'd,  the  famous  gen- 
eral of  the  Khah'fa  'Osman.  Shems/,  whose  talents  had 
brought  him  under  the  notice  of  Sultan  Suleyman,  became 
the  intimate  friend  of  Seh'm  II.,  and  under  Murad  III.  he 
grew  to  be  one  of  the  most  powerful  men  in  the  Empire. 
He  is  notorious  as  the  introducer  of  corruption  among  the 
high  officers  of  the  Ottoman  State.  The  historian  'Ah'  re- 
lates, that  one  day,  when  Shemsz*  was  coming  out  of  his 
cabinet,  he  heard  him  say  with  joy  to  his  kyahya  (steward)  : 
<(  At  length  have  I  avenged  the  dynasty  of  Qizil-Ahmedli 
on  that  of  'Osman ;  if  the  latter  has  brought  about  our 
ruin,  I  have  prepared  its  too.8  <(  How  ? w  asked  the  aged 
kyahya.  The  minister  replied :  (<  By  inducing  the  Sultan 
to  sell  his  favors ;  to-day  the  Sultan  will  himself  set  the 
example  of  corruption ;  and  corruption  will  destroy  the  em- 
pire. *  'Ah',  not  very  prudently,  remarked:  <(  Your  Excel- 
lency is  indeed  the  worthy  descendant  of  your  glorious 
ancestor,  Khalid-bin-Veh'd,  who,  as  history  tells  us,  gave 
to  the  chamberlain  of  the  Khah'fa  'Osman  two  pieces  of 
gold  to  be  introduced  to  his  master  before  his  antagonist ; 
and  was  thus  the  first  to  bring  corruption  into  Islam.8 
Shemsz  Pasha  merely  bent  his  head  and  said :  <(  You  know 
many  things,  'Ah'.* 

YAHYA  BEG  (990=1582)  was  an  Albanian  janissary  who 
devoted  himself  with  success  to  literature.  He  had  the 
courage  to  compose  an  elegy  on  his  friend  Iskender  Che- 
lebi,  put  to  death  by  the  Grand  Vezz'r  Ibrahim,  and  the 
still  greater  audacity  to  write  another,  bewailing  Prince 
Mustafa,  executed  by  order  of  his  father,  Sultan  Suleyman. 
This  last  one,  coming  to  the  knowledge  of  the  Grand  Vezt'r 
Rustem  Pasha,  Ibrahim's  successor,  and  an  enemy  to  all 
poets,  he  reported  it  to  the  Sultan,  at  the  same  time  ad- 
vising him  to  put  Yahya  to  death;  but  this  Suleyman  re- 
fused to  do.  Rustem  then  summoned  the  poet-officer  to  the 
Imperial  presence,  hoping  to  make  him  say  something  which 


230  BIOGRAPHICAL   NOTICES 

would  offend  the  Sultan.  "What  meanest  thou,B  asked  the 
Vez/r,  (<by  undertaking  to  censure  the  death-sentence  on 
Mustafa,  and  degrading  the  deeds  of  the  Padishah  before 
the  people  ?w  Yahya  answered:  "With  the  Padishah's 
judgment  have  we  judged  the  Prince  ;  but  with  those  who 
wept  his  death  have  we  wept.w  Though  unable  to  bring 
about  his  death,  Rustem  succeeded  in  procuring  his  dismis- 
sal from  the  posts  he  held  under  Government  ;  later  on, 
however,  he  received  a  large  fief  of  27,000  aqchas.  He 
used  to  frequent  the  parties  of  learned  men  and  was  ac- 
quainted with  many  of  the  great  writers  of  his  day  ;  among 
others  with  the  poet  Khiyalz',  with  whom  he  had  a  quarrel, 
arising  from  that  author's  charging  him  with  the  appropria- 
tion of  certain  of  his  verses.  When  '^4shiq  wrote  his  bio- 
graphical work,  Yahya  was  with  <(  the  Heroes  of  the  Faith 
fighting  the  Holy  War  at  Temeswar.w 

He  wrote  several  poetical  works  besides  the  Sh&h  u 
Ged&,  of  which  the  best  known  are,  the  Us\\l-N&ma,  the 
Genf\na>-i  Ra.z,  <(  The  Casket  of  Mysticism,  w  and  a  Tusuf 
and  Zuleykho.. 


.-  SULTAN  MUR^D  III.  (1003=1595),  who  succeeded 
his  father,  Seh'm  II.,  in  982  (1574),  was  a  mild  and  well- 
meaning  prince,  but  destitute  of  those  high  qualities  which 
are  necessary  for  the  guidance  of  a  mighty  empire.  His 
favorite  wife,  Safiyya,  a  Venetian  lady  of  the  noble  house 
of  Baffo,  who  had  been  captured  by  Turkish  cruisers  along 
with  three  other  women,  one  of  whom  was  Murad's  mother, 
had  the  chief  voice  in  the  direction  of  the  Imperial  affairs. 
The  most  prominent  features  of  his  reign  were  wars  with 
Persia  and  Austria,  and  the  rapid  progress  of  corruption 
and  military  insubordination.  Murad  III.  —  unworthy  name- 
sake of  the  valiant  Khudavendigar,  who  died  by  an  assas- 
sin's hand  on  the  plain  of  Kosova  after  laying  the  pride  of 
Servia  in  the  dust  —  found  his  chief  pleasure  in  the  society 
of  his  ladies  and  eunuchs,  jesters  and  dancers.  Though  a 
voluptuary,  he  was  a  protector  of  poets  and  philosophers, 
with  whom  he  was  fond  of  conversing.  His  own  poems 
are  mostly  religious  or  mystical,  and  he  is  remarkable  as 
the  only  one  of  the  Ottoman  Sultans  who  has  written  an 


BIOGRAPHICAL   NOTICES  231 

ascetic  work.  On  the  morning  of  the  last  day  of  his  life, 
he  was  lying  in  a  beautiful  kiosque  that  looked  out  upon 
the  Bosphorus,  watching  the  vessels  sailing  to  and  fro, 
when,  feeling  the  presentiment  of  approaching  death,  con- 
trary to  his  custom  of  allowing  his  minstrels  to  choose  what 
airs  they  pleased,  he  told  them  to  play  him  that  one,  of 
which  the  appropriate  words  commence  thus  :  — 

I   am   sick,   O   Death,  this    night  come  thou  and  watch  keep  b7 
my  side;* 

just  then  two  Egyptian  galleys  arrived  and  saluted  the  Seat 
of  Empire  ;  the  glass  dome  of  the  kiosque  where  the  dying 
Sultan  lay  was  shattered  by  their  cannon-fire.  (<  Formerly," 
said  Murad,  bitterly  weeping,  <(  the  salute  of  all  the  fleet 
would  not  have  broken  this  glass,  which  now  falls  at  the 
noise  of  the  cannon  of  these  galleys  :  thus  is  it  with  the 
kiosque  of  my  life.** 


(1008=1600),  whose  full  name  was  Mahmwd  'Abdu- 
'1-Baq/,  is,  according  to  the  unanimous  verdict  of  the  Ottoman 
critics,  the  greatest  lyric  poet  that  their  nation  has  pro- 
duced. Part  of  his  D'\iva.n  has  been  translated  into  German 
by  Von  Hammer  :  when  that  illustrious  Orientalist  published 
this  translation,  he  was  under  the  impression  that  it  com- 
prised the  whole  of  Baqz's  poems  :  but,  as  he  afterward 
pointed  out  in  his  Geschichte  der  Osmanischen  Dichtkunst, 
it  really  contains  less  than  half  of  the  great  Ottoman  poet's 
works,  the  manuscripts  which  he  made  use  of  being  very 
imperfect.  Baqz  was  born  in  Constantinople  in  the  year 
933  (I52^)-  ^*s  ^ther,  who  was  MiSezzin,  or  summoner 
to  prayer,  at  the  Mosque  of  Muhammed  the  Conqueror,  died 
in  973  (1565)  while  on  the  pilgrimage  to  Mekka.  In  his 
youth  Baqz  was  a  saddler,  but  he  soon  gave  up  this  trade  to  de- 
vote himself  to  literature.  He  entered  the  service  of  Qaramam- 
Zada  Muhammed  Efendi,  to  whom  he  dedicated  his  Hyacinth 
Qas\da.  His  verses  soon  attracted  the  attention  of  Sultan 
Suleyman,  who  conceived  a  great  esteem  for  him,  conferred 
upon  him  many  favors,  and  even  wrote  a  poem  in  his  honor. 

*  Simarim,  ey  Ejel,  bu  geje  bekle  yanimda. 


232  BIOGRAPHICAL  NOTICES 

Under  Sel/m  II.  Baq/  rose  to  even  greater  eminence  ;  but  during 
the  reign  of  Murad  III.,  certain  of  his  rivals  procured  a gazel^ 
by  an  old  writer  called  Nam/,  in  which  the  poet  openly  avows 
his  love  of  wine;  this  they  altered,  by  substituting  Baqz's 
name  for  that  of  Nam/,  and  brought  it  to  Murad,  saying, 
that  the  highly-favored  poet  had  composed  it  for  Selz'm  II., 
who  was  by  no  means  a  strict  Muslim.  The  enraged  Sultan 
dismissed  Baqz  from  office  and  ordered  him  to  be  banished ; 
however,  before  the  sentence  of  exile  was  carried  out,  the 
gazel  in  question  was  found  in  an  old  collection  of  Namz's 
poems,  and  Baqz  was  pardoned  and  reinstated  in  his  posi- 
tion. On  quitting  his  trade  as  a  saddler  Baq/  had  studied 
Law,  and  he  gradually  rose  in  the  profession  till  he  attained 
the  highest  legal  position  in  the  Empire.  This  celebrated 
poet  died  on  Friday,  23  Ramazan,  1008  (n  April,  1600). 
The  Sheykhu-'l-Islam  recited  the  burial-service  over  his  re- 
mains in  the  Mosque  of  Muhammed  the  Conqueror,  where 
his  father  had  been  MzSezzin;  and  they  buried  him  out- 
side the  Adrianople  Gate,  on  the  way  to  the  suburb  of 
Eyyab. 

Qinali-Zada  says,  the  first  verses  that  brought  Baq/  into 
notice  were  these  :  — 

When  the  mem'ry  of  the  fair  one's  cheek  across  my  heart  doth  stray, 
Beams  it  brightly  as  reflected  sunbeams  in  the  mirror  play. 
Should  I  die  through  longing  for  the  form  of  yonder  Cypress  fair, 
Where  the  juniper  shall  shade  me,  in  some  spot,  I  pray,  me  lay. 
For  this  reason  go  I  never  to  thy  ward,  that  weeping  sore, 
Fear  I,  O  my  Life,  my  tears  should  wet  the  dust  that  lines  thy  way. 

The  same  biographer  gives  the  following  story,  referring 
to  the  above  poem,  from  the  mouth  of  Baqz  himself :  "When 
I  brought  this  gazel  to  Mevlana  Zatx,  the  chief  of  the  Ro- 
man* poets  of  the  time,  he  refused  to  believe  that  this  fair 
poem  was  the  offspring  of  my  genius,  I  being  very  young. 
Throwing  gems  of  advice  from  the  mine,  his  heart,  and  scat- 
tering pearls  of  counsel  from  the  shell,  his  soul,  he  said : 
*  If,  like  the  plane  tree,  thou  stretchest  forth  thy  hand  to  the 
pocket  of  the  words  of  other  people  and  to  the  treasury  of 
their  verses,  there  is  no  doubt  that  the  constable,  Fate,  will 

*  See  Notes  64  and  259. 


BIOGRAPHICAL   NOTICES  233 

cut  off  the  hand,*  thy  being;  nor  is  there  any  uncertainty 
that  he  whose  thoughts,  his  brides,  thou  through  vio- 
lence pressest  to  thy  breast,  will  make  thee  the  object  of 
punishment  and  castigation.'  I  through  bashfulness  and  con- 
fusion had  no  power  to  utter  many  words,  and  could  only 
say:  <  No,  the  verses  are  my  own.*  Then  he  showed  me 
some  places  in  his  own  Diwan,  and,  to  try  me,  asked : 
( Which  are  the  spots  of  elegance,  the  nooks  of  grace  ?  * 
As  I  had  ever  applied  the  finger  of  criticism  to  the  pages 
of  his  poems,  I  pointed  out  with  my  finger  the  nooks  of 
elegance  in  these  verses.  Although  from  this  reception  per- 
fect confusion  overcame  me,  still  in  my  heart  I  rejoiced  for 
that  my  verses  had  been  worthy  of  acceptance  and  had  at- 
tained the  rank  of  approbation.  When  hereafter  I  brought 
him  two  gazels,  he  gave  them  perfect  credence,  and,  from 
the  depths  of  his  heart,  bestowed  numberless  blessings  and 
scattered  the  jewels  of  approval. w  By-and-by  Zati  himself 
took  a  distich  of  Baqz's  as  the  foundation  for  a  gazel,  say- 
ing, that  it  was  no  shame  to  steal  from  such  a  poet. 

A  marginal  note  in  Von  Hammer's  copy  of  Qinali-Zada 
says  that  the  following  Persian  distich  was  engraved  on 
Baqz's  seal,  the  impression  of  which  is  found  on  several 
legal  documents:  — 

Fleeting  is  the  earth,  therein  no  faith  lies; 
HE  doth  alone  endure,  all  else  dies.f 

B0q/  has  never  lacked  admirers ;  during  his  lifetime  he 
was  the  valued  friend  of  four  Sultans,  Suleyman  I.,  Seh'm  II., 
Murad  III.,  and  Muhammed  III.,  one  of  these,  Suleyman, 
the  most  magnificent  emperor  of  the  Ottomans  and  one  of 
the  greatest  sovereigns  the  world  has  ever  known ;  he  filled, 
as  we  have  seen,  some  of  the  highest  offices  of  state,  and 
all  the  poets  of  his  time,  even  Zati  himself,  acknowledged 
him  as  master ;  — the  later  critics  and  biographers  cannot 

*  Alluding  metaphorically  to  the  punishment  of  thieves  in  Muslim 
countries  by  cutting  off  the  hand. 

t  The  Persian  of  this  verse,  which,  as  Von  Hammer  says,  would  do 
equally  well  for  the,  seal  of  a  Fanny,  is :  — 

F&nist  jih&n  deru  we/a  nist, —  B&qi  hema  ust  jumla  f&n\st. 

Fleeting  (F&n\)  is  the  world,  in  it  fidelity  is  not; 

All  that  endures  (B&qi)  is  HE,  all  (else)  is  fleeting  (F&ni). 


234  BIOGRAPHICAL  NOTICES 

find    words    to   express    their   admiration  ;    and    so  long    as 

Ottoman    literature    shall    exist,    one    of    its    most  brilliant 

ornaments    must    be    that    poet    whose    very  name  signifies 
Enduring. 


SULTAN  MUHAMMED  III.  (1012=1603),  son  °^ 
Munzd  III.  and  the  Venetian  Safiyya,  succeeded  his  father 
on  the  throne.  He  was,  unfortunately  for  his  country, 
another  of  those  rots  faineants  whose  feeble  arms  had  no 
strength  to  wield  the  scimitar  of  'Osman.  As  in  his  father's 
days,  so  in  his  own,  corruption  held  high  carnival,  and  re- 
volt and  anarchy  laid  waste  the  land  ;  and  thus  continued 
till  crushed  by  the  grim  justice  of  Munzd  IV.,  to  whom, 
whatever  may  be  said  of  his  severity,  belongs  the  eternal 
glory  of  having  saved  the  Empire  from  dissolution.  The 
Battle  of  Keresztes  was  the  great  event  of  the  reign  of 
Muhammed  III.  The  war  in  Hungary  was  going  hard 
with  the  Ottomans  ;  and  the  great  historian  Sa'du-'d-Dzn  had 
much  ado  in  getting  the  Sultan  to  place  himself  at  the  head 
of  his  army  and  make  an  effort  to  retrieve  the  fortunes  of 
the  campaign.  At  length  he  was  successful  ;  and  Muhammed 
was  present  at  the  three-days'  battle  on  the  marshy  plain 
of  Keresztes.  At  the  beginning  of  the  conflict  fortune  was 
adverse  to  the  Muslim  troops,  and  the  faint-hearted  Sultan 
wished  to  flee,  but  Sa'du-'d-Dzn  prevailed  upon  him  to 
keep  the  field  ;  and  when  the  battle  was  over,  Muhammed 
saw  the  Christian  army  scattered  in  every  direction,  and  its 
leaders,  Prince  Sigismund  and  the  Archduke  Maximilian, 
flying  for  their  lives.  No  share  of  the  credit  for  this 
splendid  victory  is  due  to  the  Sultan  ;  the  day  was  won  by 
the  firmness  of  Sa'du-'d-Dm  and  the  valor  of  Cicala,  a 
noble  Genoese  who  had  embraced  Islam,  and  who  is  known 
in  Ottoman  history  as  Jigali-Zada.  One  day,  a  dervish 
met  Muhammed  going  into  his  palace,  and  prophesied  to 
him  that  fifty-five  days  thence  he  would  meet  with  a  great 
misfortune  —  a  prediction  which  made  a  great  impression 
upon  the  Sultan,  and  may  perhaps  have  tended  to  work  its 
own  fulfillment,  since  he  died  on  the  fifty-fifth  day  after  this 
singular  incident.  Sultan  Mahmwd  II.  used  'Adlz  for  his 
takhallus  as  well  as  Muhammed  III. 


BIOGRAPHICAL   NOTICES  235 

BAKHT/  .•  SULTAN  AHMED  I.  (1026=1617)  succeeded  his 
father,  Muhammed  III'.,  when  only  fourteen  years  old.  His 
reign  is  one  of  the  most  barren  periods  in  Ottoman  history. 
It  may  be  remarked  that  tobacco  was  introduced  into  Tur- 
key in  the  second  year  of  his  reign  ;  coffee  had  come  into 
use  before  this,  in  the  days  of  the  great  Suleyman.  This 
Sultan  died  in  the  twenty-eighth  year  of  his  age,  and  the 
fourteenth  of  his  reign.  He  was  succeeded  by  his  half-wit- 
ted brother,  Mustafa  I.,  who  was  speedily  desposed  in  favor 
of  'Osman  II.,  Ahmed's  eldest  son. 


.•  SULTAN  'OsM^N  II.  (1031=1622).  When  the  im- 
becile Mustafa  I.  (one  of  whose  amusements  consisted  of 
throwing  gold  coins  into  the  Bosphorus  for  the  fish)  was 
removed  from  the  throne,  his  young  nephew  Prince  'Osman, 
then  in  the  fourteenth  year  of  his  age,  was  named  Sultan 
in  his  stead  (1027  —  1618).  This  monarch  formed  a  plan, 
bold  enough  in  design,  but  which  he  lacked  vigor  to  carry 
out,  for  destroying  the  Janissaries  and  Sipahz's,  whose  in- 
solence had  grown  beyond  all  bounds.  These  fierce  Pretor- 
ians  got  word  of  the  Sultan's  scheme,  and  dashing  into  the 
Seraglio,  seized  'Osman  and  dragged  him  off  to  the  famous 
prison  of  the  Seven  Towers.  There  they  slew  their  sover- 
eign with  circumstances  of  insolent  cruelty  ;  and  thus  were 
the  Ottoman  annals  for  the  first  time  stained  with  the  crime 
of  regicide. 


(1045=1635).  'Ata'i  Nev'z'-Zada,  the  most  dis- 
tinguished man  of  letters  of  his  time,  was  born  in  991 
(1583).  He  studied  first  under  his  father,  Nev'z,  who  had 
been  tutor  to  Sultan  Murad  III.,  and  afterward  under  the 
celebrated  savant  and  biographer,  Feyzu-'llah  Efendi.  He 
entered  the  legal  profession,  and  was  successively  appointed 
judge  at  many  places  of  note,  amongst  others,  at  Silistria, 
Rusjuk,  Monastir,  and  Uskub.  He  died  shortly  after  his 
return  from  Uskub  to  Stamboul.  His  greatest  work  is  the 
continuation  of  Tash-Kupru-Zatda's  biography  of  learned 
men,  known  as  Sheq&yiqu-'n-Nu'-m&niyya,  <(The  Red  Anem*- 
one.*  Besides  this  prose  work  he  left  several  poems  : 
Suhbetu-'l-Ebkzr,  «  The  Converse  of  Virgins  »  ;  Heft  Kh^n, 


236  BIOGRAPHICAL   NOTICES 

«The  Seven  Trays  »;  Nefhatu-'l-Ezh&r,  «  The  Breath  of 
Flowers  *  ;  Sa.qi-Na.ma,  ft  The  Cup-Bearer  Book,"  and  a  com- 
plete 


NEF'/  (1045=1635),  of  Erzerwm,  was  the  greatest  poet  of 
the  reign  of  Murad  IV.  His  principal  work  is  a  collection 
of  satirical  verses  known  as  Sih&m-i  j^aza,  <(  The  Shafts 
of  Fate.)}  Once  when  Murad  was  reading  this  book,  a  thun- 
derbolt fell  at  his  f  oet  ;  regarding  this  as  a  sign  that  the 
work  was  displeasing  to  Heaven,  the  Sultan  tore  it  up, 
and  banished  the  author  from  Constantinople.  Nef'z  was 
shortly  afterward  recalled  ;  but  having  given  mortal  offense 
to  the  Vezz'r,  Beyram  Pasha,  by  a  violent  satire,  he  was 
condemned  to  death.  The  execution  was  carried  out  in  the 
wood-store  of  the  Seraglio  ;  the  headsman,  a  rough  provin- 
cial, when  leading  him  thither,  called  out  :  <(  Come,  Nef  '«', 
we  are  going  to  a  wood  where  thou  mayest  cut  thy  darts  !  * 
<(  Wretched  Turk,**  responded  the  poet,  <(  do  thy  business, 
and  meddle  not  thou  with  satire.  )J  He  was  beheaded,  and 
his  body  cast  into  the  sea. 

H/JFIZ  PASHA  (1041=1632),  the  Grand  Vezz'r  who,  early  in 
the  reign  of  Murad  IV.,  made  an  unsuccessful  attempt  to 
recover  Bagdad  from  the  Persians.  A  melancholy  interest 
is  attached  to  this  brave  and  gifted  but  unfortunate  officer, 
by  reason  of  his  tragic  fate  —  a  fate  which,  unhappily,  has 
been  the  lot  of  too  many  Ottoman  ministers.  The  story 
runs  thus  :  The  disaffected  sipahz's  of  the  capital,  incited,  it 
is  said,  by  Rejeb  Pasha,  a  rival  of  Hafiz,  broke  into  open 
revolt  and  demanded  the  head  of  the  Vezz'r,  along  with 
those  of  many  of  his  associates.  The  following  day  they 
forced  their  way  into  the  sacred  precincts  of  the  Seraglio 
itself,  and  there  repeated  their  demand.  Murad,  the  recently- 
ascended  Sultan,  loved  Hafiz  and  would  fain  have  saved 
him  ;  and  he  in  vain  tried  to  appease  the  infuriated  rebels. 
The  noble  Vezz'r,  who,  in  an  adjoining  apartment,  had 
made  the  ablution  of  those  about  to  die,  now  came  forth 

*The  word  Turk  is  a  term  of  reproach  among  the  Ottomans, 
implying  a  rude,  uncultured,  country  boor;  they  alwayi  called  them- 
selves '  Osmanli,  i.  e.  ,  Ottoman. 


BIOGRAPHICAL  NOTICES  237 

and  stood  before  the  Sultan,  and  said  :  (<  My  Padishah,  may 
a  thousand  slaves  like'  Hafiz  die  for  thee."  Stooping,  he 
kissed  the  ground,  and  repeated  the  words  used  by  the 
Muslim  in  the  last  extremity  :  (<  In  the  name  of  God,  the 
Merciful,  the  Compassionate  !  There  is  no  strength  nor  any 
power  save  in  God,  the  High,  the  Mighty  :  God's  we  are, 
and  verily  to  Him  we  return.8  Then  he  strode  forward 
toward  his  murderers  ;  a  well-aimed  blow  laid  the  foremost 
on  the  ground,  the  next  instant  the  Pasha  fell  pierced  by 
seventeen  wounds.  A  janissary  knelt  upon  his  breast  and 
severed  his  head  from  the  body.  Before  the  Sultan  retired 
he  addressed  to  the  assassins  these  bold  words  :  <(  If  God 
wills,  vile  murderers,  ye  shall  meet  with  terrible  vengeance  — 
ye  who  fear  not  God,  nor  are  shamed  before  the  Prophet  !  " 
They  little  heeded  the  threat  ;  but  they  soon  discovered 
that  he  who  uttered  it  never  menaced  in  vain  ;  and  many 
were  doomed  to  die  ere  the  blood  of  Hafiz  Pasha  was 
avenged. 


.-  SULTAN  MUR^D  IV.  (1049=1640)  ascended  the 
throne  when  but  twelve  years  of  age,  at  a  time  when  the 
Empire  was  in  a  state  of  woeful  disorder.  The  imbecile 
Mustafa  had  been  raised  a  second  time  to  the  imperial 
dignity,  to  take  the  place  of  'Osman  II.,  the  victim  of  the 
janissaries  ;  but  the  Empire  needed  a  very  different  hand  to 
guide  it  through  the  dangers  which  threatened  it  on  every 
side.  Ever  since  the  days  of  Selz'm  II.,  things  had  been 
going  from  bad  to  worse  :  each  Sultan  had  been  more  effete 
than  his  predecessor;  corruption  was  rampant  in  every 
branch  of  the  government,  and  military  insubordination 
threatened  to  overthrow  the  state.  A  stern  will  and  an 
iron  arm  were  needful  to  save  the  Empire  from  dissolution  ; 
—  Murad  possessed  them  both.  The  Persians,  having  taken 
Bagdad,  were  victorious  along  the  eastern  frontier  ;  revolts 
and  insurrections  were  starting,  or  threatening  to  start,  into 
existence  on  every  hand  ;  and  the  troops  of  the  capital  itself 
were  in  open  mutiny  (we  have  just  seen  how  they  com- 
pelled the  youthful  Sultan  to  deliver  his  Vezz'r  into  their 
murderous  grasp).  The  promised  day  of  vengeance  was 
not  long  delayed:  adroitly  and  boldly  Murad  disposed  of 


238  BIOGRAPHICAL   NOTICES 

the  leaders  of  the  mutineers,  then  heavily  fell  his  hand 
upon  the  rest.  He  was  a  great  monarch,  though  severe. 
He  tolerated  no  corruption,  and  sternly  repressed  every 
incipient  revolt ;  no  petty  oppressor  or  provincial  tyrant 
was  permitted  to  vex  the  people  while  he  held  sway ;  and 
whenever,  during  his  progresses  through  Asia  with  his 
army,  he  heard  of  an  unjust  judge  or  tyrannical  governor, 
the  death  of  the  guilty  was  the  instant  and  inevitable  issue. 
Thus,  during  his  reign,  though  he  was  himself  ruthless  and 
unsparing,  the  Empire  was  in  far  better  plight  than  under 
those  feeble  Sultans  whose  meekness,  or  weakness,  was  the 
cause  of  confusion  and  revolt. 

In  1045  (1635)  he  took  Erz'van ;  and  three  years  later  he 
marched  from  Constantinople  to  redeem  Bagdad  from  the 
Persians.  We  are  told  that  at  Mosul  he  received  an  Indian 
ambassador,  who  brought  him,  amongst  many  splendid  gifts, 
a  shield,  said  to  be  proof  against  sword  and  bullet,  made 
of  the  ears  of  elephants  covered  with  rhinoceros  hide ;  this 
the  Sultan  placed  before  him,  and,  with  one  blow  of  his 
battle-ax,  cleft  in  two  the  <(  impenetrable w  buckler.  Bag- 
dad was  retaken  after  forty  days  of  bloody  battle,  in  which 
many  a  noble  Ottoman  fell,  notably  the  Vez/r  Tayyar 
Pasha,  who,  when  reproached  by  Murad  on  the  failure  of 
an  assault,  replied:  <(  Would  to  God,  my  Padishah,  it  were 
as  easy  for  thee  to  take  Bagdad  as  it  is  for  thy  slave  Tay- 
yar  to  give  his  life  in  serving  thee  !  w  and  the  next  day, 
scaling  the  ramparts  in  the  first  rank  of  the  assailants,  fell 
dead,  shot  through  the  throat.  Quarter  had  been  granted 
to  the  defenders;  but  a  mine,  treacherously  sprung,  whereby 
eight  hundred  janissaries  were  killed,  was  the  signal  for  a 
general  massacre.  Thirty  thousand  Persians,  say  the  East- 
ern historians,  perished  beneath  the  Ottoman  scimitars. 
A  Persian  musician  named  Shah-Q#lz,  brought  before  Mu- 
rad,  played  and  sang  so  sweetly,  first  a  song  of  triumph, 
then  a  dirge,  that  the  Sultan,  moved  to  pity  by  the  music, 
gave  orders  to  stop  the  massacre.  Murad  died  in  Stam- 
boul,  in  the  twenty-ninth  year  of  his  age. 

'Az/z/  (1050=1641  ca.),  the  poetic  pseudonym  of  a  cer- 
tain Mustafa  of  Constantinople,  who  held  the  appointment 


BIOGRAPHICAL   NOTICES  239 

of  Provost  of  the  Seven  Towers.  He  is  principally  known 
from  his  Shehr-eng'\z,  t  few  extracts  from  which  are  trans- 
lated in  the  present  volume. 

N^'IL/  (1077=1666).  Of  this  poet  little  is  known  save 
that  he  was  a  native  of  Constantinople,  that  his  real  name 
was  Yeni-Zada  Mustafa  Efendi,  and  that  he  held  a  posi- 
tion under  government. 

SIDQ/  (1115=1703)  was  a  daughter  of  Qamer  Muhammed 
Efendi,  a  member  of  the  'ulema.  of  the  time  of  Sultan  Mu- 
hammed IV.  She  lies  buried  by  her  father's  side  without 
the  Adrianople  Gate,  not  far  from  the  convent  of  Emzr 
Bukhara.  Besides  her  Z>iwa«,  she  wrote  two  mystic 
poems,  entitled  GenJu-'l-J5nva.r,  (<  The  Treasury  of  Lights8; 
and  Mejma'u-l-AkhbW)  "The  Collection  of  Information." 
Several  poets  have  written  under  the  name  of  Sidqz. 


.-  SULTAN  MUSTAFA  II.  (1115=1703).  When  Sultan 
Mustafa  II.,  son  of  Muhammed  IV.,  the  great  hunter,  suc- 
ceeded his  uncle,  Ahmed  II.,  in  1106  (1695),  he  set  him- 
self vigorously  to  redress  the  many  corruptions  which  had 
crept  into  the  state  during  the  last  reigns.  He  placed  him- 
self at  the  head  of  his  army,  and  was  for  a  time  successful 
against  the  Austrians  ;  but  being  eventually  worsted,  he 
was  obliged,  by  the  Treaty  of  Carlowitz,  to  leave  almost 
the  whole  of  Hungary  in  the  hands  of  the  Imperialists. 
Shortly  before  his  death,  in  1115  (1703),  Mustafa  II.  ab- 
dicated in  favor  of  his  brother  Ahmed,  who  became  third 
Sultan  of  that  name. 


(1124=1712),  who  was  born  at  Roha,  came  to  Stain  - 
boul  in  the  reign  of  Muhammed  IV.,  where  he  attached 
himself  to  that  monarch's  favorite,  Mustafa  Pasha,  whom  he 
accompanied  through  his  Morean  campaign.  On  the  death 
of  his  patron,  Nab/  made  the  pilgrimage  to  Mekka,  and  on 
his  return  from  the  Holy  City,  fixed  his  residence  at  Aleppo, 
where  he  made  the  acquaintance  of  Baltaji  Muhammed 
Pasha,  who,  after  his  first  Grand-  Vezzrate,  had  been  appointed 
governor  of  that  town.  This  minister  conceived  a  great 


240  BIOGRAPHICAL  NOTICES 

attachment  for  Nab/,  and  on  his  recall  to  Constantinople, 
to  resume  the  highest  office  of  the  Empire,  he  accorded  to 
the  poet  an  important  official  position.  Nab/,  who  was  over 
eighty  years  of  age  when  he  died,  left  an  immense  number 
of  works,  partly  in  prose  and  partly  in  verse  ;  many  of  the 
latter  are  qas\das  in  praise  of  the  various  vez/rs  who  be- 
friended him.  His  Z>iwa«  contains  nine  thousand  couplets. 
The  Khayriyya  and  the  Khayr-Kb&d,  two  long  ethical 
poems  addressed  to  his  son,  are  considered  his  masterpieces. 


(1125=1713),  a  distinguished  member  of  the  legal 
profession,  famed  for  his  great  erudition  and  the  elegance 
with  which  he  wrote  the  to,1  Fig  character.  Besides  some 
prose  works  on  metaphysics  and  syntax,  he  composed  a  long 
poem  on  the  M'i'ra.J,  or  Night-journey  of  the  Prophet,  also 
a  complete  Ditvan.  He  founded  a  medresa  at  Eyyab;  and 
left  a  sum  of  money  in  order  that,  on  every  anniversary  of 
the  Prophet's  Night-journey,  his  poem  on  that  subject  might 
there  be  read. 

NED/M  (1140=1727  ca.).  Regarding  this  poet  we  have 
very  few  particulars.  He  was  patronized  first  by  the  Grand 
Vezzr  'Ali  Pasha,  after  whose  death,  on  the  battlefield  of 
Peterwardein,  Ibrah/m  Pasha,  third  famous  Grand  Vezz'r 
of  the  name,  took  him  under  his  protection.  Ned/m  was 
appointed  librarian  of  the  library  founded  by  this  minister. 

VEHB/  (1146=1733  ca.).  This  name  has  been  adopted  by 
several  Ottoman  poets.  The  author,  of  whose  gazels  a 
specimen  is  given  in  this  work,  flourished  during  the  reign 
of  Sultan  Ahmed  III.  ;  but  the  most  famous  Vehb/  is  the 
poet  styled,  for  distinction's  sake,  Sumbul-Zada  Vehb/,  who 
lived  some  seventy  years  later. 

SABQAT/:  SULTAN  MAHM^/D  I.  (1168=1754).  The  reign  of 
this  monarch,  who  succeeded  his  uncle  Ahmed  III.  in  1  143 
(1730),  is  marked  by  an  attack  made  by  Russia  and  Austria 
upon  the  Ottoman  Empire.  The  first  of  these  powers  was 
on  the  whole  successful,  but  the  second  was  unfortunate, 
and,  by  the  Treaty  of  Belgrade,  compelled  to  restore  to  the 


BIOGRAPHICAL   NOTICES  241 

Porte  several  provinces  she  had  taken  from  it  by  the  Peace 
of  Passarowitz.  It  is  to  the  honor  of  Sultan  Ma.hm.ud  that 
he  did  not  join  in  the  attack  made  by  many  of  the  European 
powers  on  Austria  when  the  youthful  empress  Maria  Theresa 
succeeded  to  the  throne  :  the  opportunity  for  avenging  him- 
self upon  the  hereditary  enemy  of  his  country  was  a  golden 
one,  but  he  was  too  generous  to  take  advantage  of  it. 

BEL/G  (1170=1756  ca.).  Little  is  known  of  this  poet,  save 
that  he  was  the  son  of  a  certain  Qara  Bag  'Al*  Efendi  of 
Qaysariyya,  and  that  he  came  to  Constantinople  in  1115 
(1703),  and  dwelt  there  in  one  of  the  medresas  of  the 
Mosque  of  Muhammed  II. 


(1170=1756  ca.)  is  the  annalist,  whose  history,  along 
with  those  of  Shakir  and  Subhz,  forms  one  of  the  volumes 
of  the  Imperial  Historiographers.  Many  of  his  poems  con- 
tain pretty  and  original  ideas,  which  are  usually  conveyed 
in  graceful  and  appropriate  language.  He  is  particularly 
strong  in  mufreds.  A  mufred  is  a  single  beyt,  or  couplet, 
the  hemistichs  of  which  may  or  may  not  rhyme  with  one 
another  ;  it  stands  by  itself,  unconnected  with  any  other 
piece  of  verse,  and  must  contain  some  bon  mot  neatly  and 
briefly  expressed.  Sami  has  a  great  number  of  these;  the 
following  will  serve  as  a  specimen  : 

Stone  about  its  middle  fastened,  and  with  iron  staff  in  hand, 
Tremblingly  the  compass-needle  seeketh  for  the  darling's  land.* 

NKV-RES   (1175=1761).      Nev-res   'Abdu-'r-Rezzaq  was  a 
poet  of   the    times    of    Mahmwd    I.     and    Mustafa    III.,   the 

*  Bagrin    task     basip,   almish    elina    ahen    'asa    Ku-yi   janani   arar 
titreyerek  qibla-numa. 

The  allusion  in  the  first  line  is  to  the  qana.'at  tasfii,  or  contentment- 
stone;  a  stone  which  dervishes  and  Arabs,  when  going  on  a  journey  ^ 
sometimes  tie  tightly  against  the  pit  of  the  stomach  to  repel  the 
pangs  of  hunger. 

The  following  is  the  most  celebrated  of  all  Sami's    mufreds,  but  it 
does  not  admit  of  translation:  — 

Bend-i  shalivarin  chuzup,  upsem  kus-i  nermi  nola  ? 
Tar  ma  sheftalisi  bag-i  vusletin  gayet  leziz! 
16 


242  BIOGRAPHICAL  NOTICES 

praises  of  whom  are  sung  in  many  of  his  verses.  Von 
Hammer  has  no  particulars  regarding  him,  save  that  on 
account  of  some  offense  given  to  a  contemporary  savant, 
called  Hashmet  Efendi,  he  was  banished,  in  1761,  to  Brwsa, 
where  shortly  afterward  he  died. 

SH^H/N  GIR^Y  :  KH^N  OF  THE  CRIMEA  (1205=1789). 
When  the  vast  empire  of  Jengz'z  fell  in  pieces,  the  Khans 
who  governed  that  portion  of  it  which  is  now  the  southern 
half  of  Russia  became  independent  monarchs.  This  terri- 
tory was  divided  into  three  Khanates ;  Kazan,  Astrakhan, 
and  the  Crimea.  For  centuries  the  princes  of  the  last  of 
these  bore  the  surname  of  Giray ;  the  origin  of  which  is 
stated  to  be  as  follows.  It  was  a  custom  of  the  Crimean 
Khans  to  send  their  sons  in  their  youth  to  nomad  tribes 
to  receive  a  warrior's  education.  A  certain  Khan  who  had 
been  thus  brought  up  by  the  tribe  Giray  happened  to  meet 
his  foster-father  who  was  returning  from  Mekka,  and  at 
the  earnest  request  of  his  old  guardian  named  his  infant 
son  Giray,  in  honor  of  the  tribe,  and  further  ordered  that 
all  future  princes  of  his  house  should  bear  that  style  as 
surname. 

Shortly  after  the  capture  of  Constantinople,  the  Crimean 
Khans  declared  themselves  vassals  of  the  Ottoman  Sultans, 
and  such  they  continued  to  be  till  within  a  few  years  of 
the  theft  of  their  territory  by  Russia,  which  put  an  end 
alike  to  their  sovereignty  and  to  the  freedom  of  their 
people. 

Shahzn  Giray,  the  last  of  the  line,  seems  to  have  been  a 
talented  and  accomplished  prince,  but  totally  wanting  in 
political  foresight;  he  had  a  difficult  game  to  play,  and 
played  it  badly.  The  Russians  had  penetrated  into  the 
Crimea  by  force  and  fraud,  and,  seeing  their  arms  every- 
where victorious  over  the  Turks,  and  importuned  and 
flattered  by  their  agents,  he  very  foolishly  and  wrongly 
forsook  his  old  allegiance  and  proclaimed  himself  the  vassal 
of  Catherine.  He  was  speedily  deposed  and  sent  into 
Russia ;  his  country  was  formally  annexed,  and  the  last 
gleam  of  Tatar  freedom  drowned  in  the  blood  of  30,000 
men,  women,  and  children,  massacred  by  the  Russian  sol- 


BIOGRAPHICAL   NOTICES  243 

diers.  The  treatment  of  those  Crimean  Princes,  who  placed 
themselves  under  Stamboul  and  St.  Petersburg  respectively, 
shows  well  the  difference  between  Turk  and  Russian.  Re- 
fused the  pension  that  had  been  promised  him,  and  insulted 
by  his  cruel  captors,  Shahz'n  Ginzy  fled  to  Constantinople  ; 
but  desertion  of  his  liege  and  betrayal  of  his  people  were 
crimes  too  great  for  the  Sultan  to  overlook  :  the  hapless 
Prince  was  sent  to  Rhodes  and  there  executed  as  a  traitor. 


(1210=1795),  son  of  a  musician  in  a  Mevlevz  con- 
vent, was  born  in  Constantinople  in  the  year  1171  (1757). 
From  his  youth  he  was  much  given  to  study,  and  to  fre- 
quenting the  society  of  learned  men.  In  hi?  twenty-fourth 
year  he  compiled  his  Z>iwa«,  and  two  years  later  composed 
his  most  celebrated  poem,  a  beautiful  mystic  romance, 
named  Husn  u  'Ishq,  (<  Beauty  and  Love.*  Sultan  Selz'm 
III.  conferred  upon  Galib  the  office  of  Sheykh  of  Galata, 
in  return  for  which  that  poet  composed  a  magnificent  qa- 
s'\da  in  honor  of  his  royal  patron.  In  1795,  Galib  under- 
took the  pilgrimage  to  Mekka,  on  his  return  from  which 
he  died  in  Damascus,  where  he  is  buried.  This  author, 
who  is  frequently  styled  G&lib  Deda,  <(  Father  Galib,*  is 
regarded  as  one  of  the  greatest  of  modern  Ottoman  poets  ; 
he  left  a  large  number  of  works,  principally  on  religious 
subjects. 

FITNET  KH^NIM  (1215=1800  ca.).  Of  this  poetess  I  can 
find  no  particulars  save  that  she  was  the  daughter  of  a 
Muftz  named  Es'ad.  'Izzet  Molla  mentions  her  in  one  of 
his  poems  as  being  married  to  some  one  who  was  unworthy 
of  her. 


SULTAN  SELTM  III.  (1222=1807).  During  the 
reign  of  this  monarcn,  who  ascended  the  throne  in  1203 
(1789),  the  star  of  the  House  of  'Osman  was  at  its  nadir. 
On  his  accession  the  Empire  was  engaged  in  a  disastrous 
war  with  Austria  and  Russia.  Peace  was  made  with  the 
former,  but  Catherine  continued  the  struggle  on  her  own 
account,  until  the  intervention  of  Prussia  and  England  se- 
cured a  respite  for  the  Ottoman  State.  Sel/m  maintained 


244  BIOGRAPHICAL  NOTICES 

neutrality  during  the  European  wars  occasioned  by  the 
French  Republic,  till  Napoleon's  wanton  assault  upon  Egypt 
compelled  him  to  take  up  arms  in  his  own  defense.  Fa- 
miliar to  every  Englishman  is  the  story  of  this  war  —  how 
England  went  to  her  ally's  aid;  how  the  veterans  of 
France,  under  the  eyes  of  Bonaparte  himself,  dashed  time 
after  time  against  the  walls  of  St.  Jean  d'Acre,  only  to  be 
repelled  by  Jezzar  Pasha  and  his  valiant  comrades;  and 
how  Nelson  destroyed  Napoleon's  fleet,  and  with  it  all  his 
dreams  of  Eastern  Empire,  at  the  never-to-be-forgotten  bat- 
tle of  Aboukir. 

Selzm,  seeing  that  the  constantly-recurring  defeats  sus- 
tained by  the  Ottoman  troops  resulted  from  their  weapons 
and  organization  being  those  of  the  Middle  Ages  rather 
than  of  modern  times,  resolved  to  adopt  the  arms  and  tac- 
tics of  the  nations  of  Western  Europe.  This  he  began  to 
accomplish,  and  the  reason  of  the  exceeding  weakness  of 
the  Empire  throughout  his  reign  was  this  change  of  front 
in  the  face  of  powerful  foes.  That  these  reforms  were  ab- 
solutely necessary,  is  beyond  question  — they  have  saved  thg 
Empire.  And  now,  after  nearly  a  hundred  years,  we  see 
the  result:  the  Ottoman  soldiers  of  to-day  have  shown  on 
many  occasions  that,  when  at  all  fairly  matched,  they  are 
able  to  cope  successfully  with  the  best-equipped  troops  in 
Europe ;  but  it  was  very  different  in  Seh'm's  time.  That 
monarch's  reforms,  however,  met  with  violent  opposition, 
especially  from  the  Janissaries,  and  eventually  cost  him  his 
life  :  a  revolution,  occasioned  by  his  innovations,  hurled  him 
from  the  throne,  and  shortly  afterward  he  was  strangled 
in  his  private  apartments.  Thus  perished  Seh'm  III. ;  but 
the  reforms  which  he  originated  have  been  nobly  and  suc- 
cessfully carried  out  by  his  son  Mahmad  II.  and  his 
successors. 

F/IZIL  BEG  (1224=1810)  was  the  son  of  Tahir  Pasha  (the 
Sheykh  Daher  of  Volney  and  Savary),  the  accomplice  of 
'Ah'  Beg  of  Egypt  in  his  revolt  against  the  Ottoman  Porte. 
Though  for  a  time  successful,  'Alz  Beg  was  at  length  de- 
feated, and  Tahir  was  driven  into  'Akka,  where  he  de- 
fended himself  till  killed  in  a  sortie  (1775). 


BIOGRAPHICAL   NOTICES  245 

F0zil,  who,  with  his,  younger  brother,  Kamil  Beg,  like- 
wise a  poet,  was  brought  up  in  the  Imperial  Seraglio,  early 
devoted  himself  to  literature,  and  after  holding  several 
official  appointments,  was  eventually  made  one  of  the 
Khojag&n,  or  Members  of  the  Divan.  Besides  the  Zen&n- 
N&ma,  <(  Book  of  Women,*  he  wrote  the  Kkub&n-N&ma, 
«Book  of  Fair»  (».  e.,  Youths),  the  Defter-i  '  Ishq,  «  Reg- 
ister of  Love,8  and  the  Chengi-N&ma,  "Book  of  the  Public 
Dancer.*  The  Defter-i  '  Ishq  comes  first  in  the  little 
volume  of  his  works,  next  follow  the  Khub&n  and  Zen&n 
Na.mas%  companion  poems,  and  then  lastly,  the  Chengi- 
N&ma.  He  left  also  a  D'\wa.n  of  gazels. 

In  his  little  work  on  Turkish  Poetry,  Mr.  Redhouse  cites 
an  elegy  on  the  death  of  a  lady,  which  is  so  pretty  that  I 
cannot  forbear  offering  a  translation  of  it.  The  verse  is 
said  to  be  by  one  Fazil,  but  whether  he  be  the  same  F0zil 
as  composed  the  Zen&n-N&ma,  I  have  failed  to  ascertain; 
that  author  is,  however,  the  only  poet  of  the  name  men- 
tioned in  Von  Hammer's  work:  — 


ELEGY  ON  A  LADY.     BY 
Ah  !  thou'st  laid  her    low,   yet    flushed  with  life,  Cup-bearer  of    the 

Sphere  ! 

Scarce  the  glass  of  joy  was  tasted  when  the  bowl  of  Fate  brimmed  o'er; 
Hold  her,  O  thou  Earth  !  full  gently,  smile  on  her,  O  Trusted  One  !  * 
For  a  wide-world's  King  this  fair  Pearl  as  his  heart's  own  darling 

wore,  t 


(1236=1820  ca.).  Von  Hammer  makes  Wasif,  the 
poet,  identical  with  the  historian  of  the  same  name  ;  but, 
as  the  latter  died  in  the  year  1221  (1806),  while  the  former 
has  in  his  Diiv&n  some  t&rikhs  as  late  as  1236  (1820),  the 
great  Orientalist  must  be  mistaken.  I  have  been  unable  to 
gain  any  information  concerning  the  poet,  save  that  in  his 
Z>iiva.n  he  is  styled  W&sif-i  Enderum,  which  shows  that 
he  was  brought  up  in  the  Imperial  Seraglio. 

*  See  Note  7. 

t  Hayf!  ol  mest-i  hayata  qiydin  ey  S&qi-i  Ckerkh! 
jfam-i  ka.ma  qanmadan  dolmush  Ejel  feymanesi: 
Ey  Zemin,  khosh  tut!  nuivazfsA  eyle,  ey  Ruhu-'l-Emiu! 
Kim  bu  gevher-para  bir  sh&h-i  jihan  jan&nesi. 


246  BIOGRAPHICAL  NOTICES 


PASHA  (1236=1820  ca.)  was  the  Qapudan,  or 
Lord  High  Admiral,  and  intimate  friend  of  Sultan  Mustafa 
IV.  The  revolution  which  dethroned  that  monarch  com- 
pelled Ramiz  to  flee  to  Russia  for  his  life  ;  he  lived  for 
some  time  in  that  country,  and  there  he  wrote  his  gazels, 
which  show  how  sorely  he  yearned  for  his  friend  and  his 
native  land.  The  original  of  the  poem  translated  in  this 
work  may  be  found  in  the  Mines  de  V  Orient. 

'  IZZET  MOLLA  (  1  252=1836  ca.)  was  one  of  Sultan  Mahmwd 
the  Second's  Vice-Chancellors.  <(  At  some  time,"  says  Mr. 
Redhouse,  <(  during  the  calamitous  days  of  the  Greek  insur- 
rection, before  the  epoch  of  the  destruction  of  the  Janissaries, 
Navarino,  and  the  Russian  War  that  led  to  the  treaty  of 
Adrianople  —  namely,  at  about  the  date  when  the  Prince, 
afterward  the  Sultan,  '  Abdu-'l-Mejzd  was  born,  in  1823  or 
1824  —  '  Izzet  Molla  had  incurred  the  displeasure  of  a  pow- 
erful colleague,  and  had  been  banished  from  Constantinople 
to  the  town  of  Kesharn,  situated  between  Rodosto  and  the 
Lower  Maritza.  At  his  death,  a  poem  of  about  seven 
thousand  couplets,  and  entitled,  according  as  its  name, 
Mihnet-Kesh&n  (Mihnet-i  Kesh&n),  may  be  read  or  under- 
stood, <The  Suffering,*  <  The  Sufferers,  >  or  <  The  Sufferings 
of  Keshan,*  was  found  among  his  papers,  and  published  by 
his  grandson,  Nazim  Bey.8  *  Fu'ad  Pasha,  the  celebrated 
statesman,  was  the  son  of  'Izzet  Molla;  like  his  father,  he 
cultivated  poetry:  a  few  lines  by  him  will  be  found  in 
Mr.  Redhouse'  s  work,  from  which  the  preceding  remarks 
have  been  taken. 


SULTAN  M  AH  MUD  II.  (1255=1839).  When  the 
Janissaries  deposed  Sultan  Sel/m  III.,  they  placed  upon  the 
throne  his  cousin  Mustafa,  the  eldest  son  of  'Abdu-'l- 
Hamz'd  I.  This  prince  was  not  long  allowed  to  enjoy  the 
honors  of  royalty,  for  Mustafa  Bayraq-dar,  the  Pasha  of 
Rusjuq,  a  loyal  adherent  of  the  unfortunate  Sel/m  entered 
the  capital  with  an  army  of  40,000  men,  and  proceeded  to 
storm  the  Seraglio.  Sultan  Mustafa  IV.  gave  orders  for  the 
immediate  execution  of  his  cousin,  the  deposed  Seh'm,  and 

*<(On  the  History,  System,  and  Varieties  of  Turkish  Poetry,8  p.  5. 


BIOGRAPHICAL  NOTICES  247 

his  own  brother,  Prince  Mahmwd,  hoping  by  this  means  to 
secure  his  own  life  and  throne,  as  he  knew  no  one 
would  dare  to  injure  the  sole  male  representative  of  the 
House  of  'Osman.  The  Pasha  and  his  followers  were  a 
few  minutes  too  late  to  save  Seh'm,  but  in  time  to  rescue 
Mahmwd,  whom  a  faithful  slave  had  hid  in  the  furnace  of 
a  bath.  Sultan  Mustafa  was  at  once  deposed,  and  the 
youthful  Prince  raised  to  the  throne.  Mahmad  resolved  to 
follow  the  example  of  his  cousin,  and  energetically  pro- 
ceeded with  the  reforms  inaugurated  by  the  latter.  One  of 
the  most  remarkable  incidents  of  his  reign  was  the  Destru- 
tion  of  the  Janissaries  ;  this  once  most  formidable  body  of 
troops,  which  had  been  founded  500  years  before,  in  the 
days  of  Sultan  Orkhan,  had  turned  into  a  horde  of  military 
tyrants,  who  set  up  and  pulled  down  sultans  as  they 
pleased,  and  whose  lawless  violence  not  unfrequently  drenched 
Constantinople  with  blood.  As  these  men  consistently  and 
bitterly  opposed  every  attempt  at  reform,  and  as  there 
was,  and  could  be,  no  security  either  for  the  monarch  or 
for  any  of  his  subjects  so  long  as  their  power  was  un- 
broken, Mahmwd  determined  on  the  bold,  but  most  neces- 
sary, stroke  of  their  annihilation.  The  story  of  how  he 
effected  this  is  too  well  known  to  need  repeating  here  ;  suf- 
fice it  to  say  that  it  was  an  act  which  was  justified,  as  it 
could  alone  have  been,  by  extreme  necessity.  Many  re- 
verses, such  as  the  loss  of  Greece  and  Algiers,  the  defeat 
of  Navarino,  the  Egyptian  rebellion,  and  the  Russian  in- 
vasion, fell  to  this  Sultan's  lot  ;  but  he  met  all  with  the 
undaunted  calmness  of  one  who  is  conscious  that  his  cause 
is  just.  Worn  out  with  continual  anxiety  and  ceaseless 
labor,  Sultan  Mahmwd  II.  died  in  1839,  when,  to  use  the 
words  of  Sir  Edward  Creasy,  the  English  historian  of  the 
Ottoman  Empire,  <(as  gallant  a  spirit  left  the  earth,  as 
ever  strove  against  the  spites  of  fortune  —  as  ever  toiled 
for  a  nation's  good  in  preparing  benefits,  the  maturity  of 
which  it  was  not  permitted  to  behold.8 


KH^NIM  (1275=1858),  the  sister  of  'Izzet  Molla, 
and  aunt  of  the  famous  Fu'ad  Pasha,  was  a  poetess  of  con- 
siderable merit.  Her  D\iua.n,  which  contains  many  fine 


248  BIOGRAPHICAL  NOTICES 

passages,  consists    for    the   most    part    of   t&r\khs  on  events 
that  occurred  during  the  first  half  of  the  present  century. 


BEG  (1296=1879  ca.),  son  of  an  Albania  father, 
was  one  of  the  most  distinguished  men  of  letters  of  modern 
Turkey.  He  was  a  member  of  what  is  known  as  the 
w  Young  Turkey  *  party,  Having  temporarily  fallen  under 
the  displeasure  of  Sultan  'Abdu-'l-'Az/z,  whose  secretary  he 
was,  he  retired  to  London,  where  he  became  connected  with 
the  papers,  Mukhbir,  (<  Informer,®  and  Hurriyyet,  <(  Liberty,* 
published  by  his  party  in  the  English  capital.  When  Sul- 
tan 'Abdu-'l-Harmd  II.  opened  the  Ottoman  Parliament, 
Ziya  Beg,  now  Ziya  Pasha,  was  among  those  whom  the 
people  chose  as  their  representatives.  He  has  written  a 
good  deal  of  poetry  and  compiled  an  excellent  Turkish, 
Persian,  and  Arabian  Anthology,  called  Khar&b&t,  <(The 
Tavern,  B  from  which  many  of  the  poems  translated  in  the 
present  work  have  been  selected.  Ziya  was  more  a  courtier 
than  a  statesman,  and  his  poems  were  held  in  high  esteem 
by  Sultan  'Abdu-'l-'Azzz.  He  was  a  friend  and  associate 
of  Kemal  Beg,  the  poet,  and  of  the  celebrated  writer  'Ah* 
Su'avz  Efendi. 


NOTES 


1.  These  dates  are  the  year  of  the  poet's  death;  the  first,  according 
to  the  Muhammedan,  the  second,  to  the  Christian  era. 

2.  The  Ditvan  of  Mshiq  Pasha  is  a  long  mystical   poem,    modeled 
after   Mevlana    Jelalu-'d-Din's   famous    Afesnevi.      The    extract    here 
translated  is  given  by  Latt'f*  in  his   Tezkera,  or   Biography  of   Poets. 
Mshiq's  poem  is  a  mesnevi,  not  a  Z>iwa»  at  all,  in  the  ordinary  sense 
of  the  word. 

3.  Jinn  —  the  genii ;    a  race  of   material,    intelligent  beings,  whose 
bodies  are  similar  to  the  essence  of  fire  or  smoke.     See  Lane's  <(  Thou- 
sand and  One  Nights.® 

4.  Prince  Cantemir,  in  his  (<  History  of  the  Othman  Empire, M  remarks  : 
<(  The  Turks  say  that  God  has  created  17,000  worlds,  but  that  this  will 
be  the  last.*     And  on  page  272  of  Mr.  Redhouse's  translation  of  the 
First  Book  of  Jelalu-'d-Dzn's  Mesnevi  occur  these  lines:  — 

*  Though  worlds  there  may  be,  eighteen  thousand  globes,  and  more, 
Not  every  eye  has  power  to  witness  all  their  store.* 

5.  The  Iskender-N&ma  is   a  romantic  mesnevi,  detailing  the  mythic 
and  mystic  history  of  Iskender,  or  Alexander  the  Great,  a  hero  who, 
as  we   have   seen   in   the   Introduction,    is  a    great   favorite   with   the 
Orientals.     Besides  the  story  of  the  Macedonian    conqueror,    the  whole 
of   the   science   and  philosophy   of  the   Muslims    is   set  forth   in   this 
immense   and   extraordinary  book.     The   Persians   Nizam/   and  J«m», 
Khusraw  of  Dihh',  and   the  Jagatay   Turk  Newa'j   wrote  mesnevis  on 
the   history   of   Iskender. —  Like     several   other   monarchs   of    ancient 
Persia,  Iskender  is  frequently  quoted  as  the  type  of  a  great  and  war- 
like sovereign. 

6.  The  'Anqa  is  a  fabulous   bird  which  figures   largely   in   Oriental 
poetry  and  romance.     It  is  sometimes  called  the  Simurg,  and  is  very 
similar  to,  if  not  identical  with,  the  better  known  Rukh.     It  is  said  to 
dwell   somewhere   in   the   mountains  of   Qaf,  which,  like  a  vast  ring, 
inclose  the    Circumambient   Ocean    (Bahru-'l-Muhit )    that   surrounds 
the  whole  habitable  earth,  which,  according  to   this    cosmography,  is 
flat,  not  round.     These  mountains  are  composed  of    green  chrysolite, 
the  reflection  of   which  causes   the    greenish    (or  bluish)    tint   of    the 
sky.     El-Qazwt'm  says  that  the  'Anqa  is  the  greatest  of  all  birds,  and 
carries  off  an  elephant  as  a  hawk  does  a  mouse.     This  strange  creature 
is  further  said   to  be   rational,  and   to  possess  the    power  of  speech. 

(249) 


250  NOTES 

The  'Anqa  plays  to  a  certain  extent  the  same  part  in  the  East  as  the 
Phoenix  and  Griffin  in  the  West. —  In  the  line  before  us  Sheykh*  is,  of 
course,  simply  calling  on  his  own  muse,  which,  in  the  spirit  of  his 
class,  he  declares  to  be  sweet  as  the  nightingale,  and  wondrous  as 
the  'Anqa. 

7.  Ruhu-'l-Emin,  «the   Trusted    Spirit,*   is  the  Archangel  Gabriel, 
who   is   held   to   be   trusted   by   God  with  all    His  revelations  to  the 
Prophets. 

8.  Iskender  here  complains  to  his  Vezt'r  Aristu  (Aristotle)  of  having 

no  more  worlds  to  conquer. 

•^ 

9.  fiub'-i  Meskun  the  (<  Inhabited  Quarter  »  of  the  earth,  is  divided 
into  the  Seven  Climates,  each  under  one  of  the  Seven  Planets,  an  ac- 
count of  which  will  be  found  in  El-Mes'«d»'s  (<  Meadows  of  Gold  and 
Mines  of  Gems,*   translated   from   Arabic   into    English   by  Dr.  Aloys 
Sprenger. 

10.  The  romances  of   Khusrev  and    Shtr/n,  Leyl*  and   Mejn«n,  and 
Yttsuf  and  Zuleykha  are  the  three  favorite  love-stories  of  the  Muslim 
poets.     Khusrev    (according   to   Ottoman,    Khusraw,    to   Persian   pro- 
nunciation) is  the  general  title  of  the  Kings  of  the  Fourth,  or  Sasani, 
Persian  dynasty;  but  it  is  specially  applied  to  Khusrev  Pervi'z.     The 
Greek   Chosroe,  or   Chosroes,  is  a  corruption  of  this  word. 

The  glories  of  Khusrev  Perv/z,  his  matchless  steed  Shebd/z,  and 
his  charming  mistress  Sh/r/'n  are  favorite  subjects  with  the  poets  of 
the  East.  Wishing  to  perpetuate  in  stone  the  lovely  features  of  his 
mistress,  Khusrev  ordered  Ferhad,  the  first  sculptor  of  the  age,  to 
carve  her  likeness  on  the  solid  rock;  but  the  artist,  smitten  by  the 
charms  of  Shmn,  madly  endeavored  to  gain  her  love.  The  monarch 
took  advantage  of  his  infatuation,  and  employed  him  in  many  works, 
encouraging  him  with  the  hope  of  gaining  Shm'n;  and  at  length 
definitely  promised  that  if  he  cut  through  a  certain  mountain  and 
brought  a  stream  through,  the  lady  should  be  his.  Ferhad  had  all 
but  completed  his  task,  when  Khusrev,  fearing  he  should  have  to  part 
with  his  beautiful  mistress,  sent  an  old  woman  to  the  w  mountain- 
hewer  w  to  tell  him  that  Sh/rtn  was  dead ;  on  hearing  which  Ferhad 
cast  himself  headlong  from  the  rock.  Khusrev,  however,  met  with  his 
due  reward;  for  his  son  Sh/r«ya,  likewise  enamored  of  the  enchant- 
ing Shtrt'n,  stabbed  him,  in  the  vain  hope  of  gaining  that  wonderful 
lady. 

Ferhad  is  often  mentioned  in  Ottoman  poetry  as  the  type  of  a 
sincere  but  unfortunate  lover.  The  sculptures  and  cuneiform  inscrip- 
tions, deciphered  by  Sir  Henry  Rawlinson,  on  the  mountain  of 
Bisittm  (or  Behistan)  near  Kermanshah  in  Persia,  are  legendarily  re- 
ported to  be  the  work  of  Ferhad. 

u.  A  moon  is  a  constantly  recurring  metaphor  for  a  beautiful 
•woman  or  youth. 


NOTES  251 

12.  The  «  curling  serpents  »  are  her  shining,  curling  tresses. 

13.  The  <(  dawn »  is  her  fair  xace. 

14.  The  Signs  of  the  Zodiac  are  divided  into   Fiery,  Earthy,  Airy, 
and    Watery.      Aries,  Leo,  and    Sagittary  are  Fiery;    Taurus,  Virgo, 
and  Capricorn  are  Earthy ;  Gemini,  Libra,  and  Aquarius  are  Airy;  and 
Cancer,  Scorpio,  and  Pisces  are  Watery.     There  are  many  other  ways 
of  dividing  the  Signs,  such  as  Masculine  and  Feminine,  etc. 

The  allusion    in   the   text   is,  of  course,  a  play  upon  the  moon-like 
Shmn  bathing  in  the  pond. 

15.  Orientals  express  surprise  by  biting  the  fore-finger. 

16.  That  is :  her  locks  covered  her  eyes.      Be    it    said,  once  for  all, 
that  in  Ottoman  poetry  the   hyacinth    continually  represents  the  hair, 
and  the  narcissus,  the  eye. 

17.  The   hair   is    also   frequently    likened   to   musk,  being  dark  and 
sweet-scented. 

18.  Here  the  moon  means  her  face,  as  does  (<her  dayM  in  the  last  line. 

19.  These   three   last  couplets   are   of   course   mystic:    the   <(  Loved 
Onew  is  God.     See  Introduction,  Sec.  I. 

20.  The  Muhammediyya  is  a  long  poem,  descriptive  of  the  creation 
of  the  universe,  the  dogmas  of  Islam,  and  the  life  of  the  Prophet. 

21.  The   following   passage,  from   Sale's  Preliminary  Discourse   to 
his  translation  of  the  O^ur'an,  will  serve  as  a  commentary  to  this  poem; 
I  have  spelled  the  Arabic  words  in  accordance  with  Turkish  pronunci- 
ation:  <(They  [the  commentators]    say  it    [Paradise]    is  situated  above 
the  Seven  Heavens  [or  in  the  Seventh  Heaven],  and  next   under   the 
Throne  of  God ;  and,  to  express  the  amenity  of  the  place,  tell  us,  that 
the  earth  of  it  is  of  the  finest  wheat  flour,  or  of  the  purest  musk ;  or, 
as  others  will  have  it,  of  saffron ;  that  its  stones  are  pearls  and  jacinths, 
the  walls  of  its  buildings  enriched  with  gold  and  silver,  and  that  the 
trunks  of  all  its  trees  are  of  gold ;  among  which  the  most  remarkable 
is  the  tree  called   Tuba,  or  the  <Tree  of  Happiness.*     Concerning  this 
tree  they  fable  that  it  stands  in  the  palace  of  Muhammed,   though   a 
branch   of  it   will  reach  to  the  house  of  every  true  believer;  that  it 
will  be  loaden  with  pomegranates,  grapes,  dates,  and   other  fruits   of 
surprising  bigness,  and   of   tastes  unknown  to  mortals.      So  that  if  a 
man  desire  to  eat  of  any  particular  kind  of  fruit,  it  will  immediately 
be  presented  to  him,  or  if  he  choose  flesh,  birds  ready  dressed  will  be 
set  before  him,  according  to  his  wish.     They  add,  that  the  boughs  of 
this    tree   will    spontaneously   bend   down   to   the  hand  of  the  person 
who  would  gather  of  ifc*  fruits,  and    that   it   will   supply   the   blessed 
not  only  with  food,  but  also  with  silken  garments,  and  beasts  to  ride 
on,  ready  saddled  and  bridled,  and  adorned  with  rich  trappings,  which 
will  burst  forth  from  its  fruits;  and  that  this  tree  is  so  large  that  a 


252  NOTES 

person  mounted  on  the  fleetest  horse  would  not  be  able  to  gallop 
from  one  end  of  its  shade  to  the  other  in  a  hundred  years. 

(<As  plenty  of  water  is  one  of  the  greatest  additions  to  the  pleasant- 
ness of  any  place,  the  Qur'an  often  speaks  of  the  rivers  of  Paradise 
as  a  principal  ornament  thereof :  some  of  these  rivers,  they  say,  flow 
with  water,  some  with  milk,  some  with  wine,  and  others  with  honey; 
all  taking  their  rise  from  the  root  of  the  tree  Taba ;  two  of  which 
rivers,  namely,  El-Kevser  and  the  River  of  Life,  we  have  already 
mentioned.  And,  lest  these  should  not  be  sufficient,  we  are  told,  this 
garden  is  also  watered  by  a  great  number  of  lesser  springs  and  foun- 
tains, whose  pebbles  are  rubies  and  emeralds,  their  earth  of  camphire, 
their  beds  of  musk,  and  their  sides  of  saffron ;  the  most  remarkable 
among  them  being  Selseb/1  and  Tesm'm. 

<(  But  all  these  glories  will  be  eclipsed  by  the  resplendent  and 
ravishing  girls  of  Paradise,  called  from  their  large  black  eyes,  Hwru- 
'l-'uywn,  the  enjoyment  of  whose  company  will  be  a  principal  felicity 
of  the  faithful.® 

This  gorgeous  picture  —  which  in  all  its  details  is  regarded  as  true 
by  the  illiterate,  and,  by  reason  of  its  splendor  and  beauty,  is  accepted 
in  poetry  as  the  idea  of  Paradise  —  rests  solely  on  one  or  two  simple 
passages  of  the  Qur'an,  of  which  the  following  is  perhaps  the  most 
explicit  :— 

•And  the  foremost  foremost!* 
These  are  they  who  are  brought  nigh, 
In  gardens  of  pleasure ! 
A  crowd  of  those  of  yore, 
And  a  few  of  those  of  the  latter  day ! 
And  gold-weft  couches,  reclining  on  them  face  to  face. 

Around  them  shall  go  eternal  youths,  with  goblets  and  ewers  and  a  cup  of 
flowing  wine ;  no  headache  shall  they  feel  therefrom,  nor  shall  their 
wits  be  dimmed ! 

And  fruit  such  as  they  deem  the  best ; 
And  flesh  of  fowl  as  they  desire ; 
And  bright  and  large-eyed  maids  like  hidden  pearls; 
As  a  reward  for  that  which  they  have  done ! 
They  shall  hear  no  folly  there  and  no  sin ; 
Only  the  speech,  'Peace,  Peace  ! ' 

And  the  fellows  of  the  right  — what  right  lucky  fellows! 
Amid  thornless  lote-trees. 

And  talh  [banana]  trees  with  piles  of  flowers; 
And  outspread  shade, 
And  water  out-poured ; 

And  fruit  in  abundance,  neither  failing  nor  forbidden ; 
And  beds  upraised  1 

Verily  we  have  produced  them  [the  celestial  damsels]  a  production. 
And  made  them  virgins,  darlings  of  equal  age  [with  their  spouses]   for  the 

fellows  of  the  right  I 
A  crowd  of  those  of  yore,  and  a  crowd  of  those  of  the  latter  day  ! »  f 

*On  the  I*ast  Day  mankind  will  be  divided  into  three  companies:  (i)  Those  who 
have  been  foremost  in  professing  the  faith  upon  earth,  who  shall  be  foremost  then 
— among  these  will  be  many  of  the  olden  time,  but  few  of  the  latter  day;  (2)  The 
«  fellows  of  the  right,*  the  rest  of  the  blest ;  (3)  The  «  fellows  of  the  left,»  the  lost. 

f  Qur'an,  Ivi.,  10-39,  Professor  Palmer's  translation. 


NOTES 


253 


It  is  almost  needless  to  state  that  the  great  majority  of  cultured 
Muslims  regard  this  and  similar  passages  as  figurative.  (See  Syed 
Ameer  Ah',  chap,  xvi.) 

22.  This  repetition  of  the  rhyming  word  is  in  imitation  of  the  orig- 
inal. 

23.  Their  ruby-lips  are  like  red  wine.     Whenever   in    Ottoman   po- 
etry a  lady's  rubies  are  mentioned,  her  lips  are  meant.     The  lips  are 
likened   to   -wine,   not   only    on   account  of  their  color  and  sweetness, 
but  also  because  of  their  intoxicating  power. 

24.  «  Therein  are  maids  of  modest  glances. 

As  though  they  were  rubies  and  pearls.* — Qur'an,  lv.,  57-58. 

25.  Alluding  to  the  famous  sentence,  said    to    have    been  addressed 
by   God   to    Muhammed :    Lev    faka  lema.  kkuliqatu-'l-efla.kut  <(  Had  it 
not  been  for  thee,  verily  the  heavens  had  not  been  created.® 

26.  (<  For  the  blest  are  prepared,*  said  Muhammed,  (<  such  things  as 
eye  hath  not  seen,  nor  hath  ear  heard,  nor  hath  it    entered   into    the 
heart   of  man  to  conceive.*    Compare  Isaiah,  Ixiv.,  4;  i  Corinthians, 
ii.,  9;  and  Qjir'an,  xxxii.,   17. 

27.  Habibu-Ufah,  <(the  Beloved  of  God,*  is    the    special   designation 
of  Muhammed;  as  Safiyyu-'lfah,  (<the  Pure  Friend  of  God,*  is  that  of 
Adam;  JVeft'yyu-'ll&A,  « the  Saved  of  God,»   that   of   Noah;    Khalilu- 
'Ifah,  «the  Intimate  Friend  of  God,*  that  of  Abraham;  fCeKmu-'lla/i, 
<(the  Addressed  of  God,»  that  of  Moses;    and  Ruhu-'ll&h,  «the  Spirit 
of  God,*  that  of  Jesus. 

28.  In  a  diagram  in  my  copy  of  the  Muhammediyya  the  Twba  Tree 
is    represented  as  an  enormous  hanging  plant,  springing    from   under 
the  'ArsA,    or    Throne    of    God  (which  is  above  the  highest  Mansion 
of  Paradise),  and  descending  thence  through  all  the  Seven  Mansions, 
which  are  arranged  one  over  the    other,    like    seven    stories.      These 
Seven   Mansions    of   Paradise  are  in  order  as  follows,  commencing  at 
the  lowest :  ist,  Daru-'s-Selam,    (<the    Mansion    of  Peace,*   formed    of 
ruby;    2d,    Jennetu-l-Meva,    <(  the    Garden  of   the  Abode,*  of   green 
chrysolite;  3d,  Jennetu-'l-Khuld,  (<  the  Garden  of  Eternity,*  of  coral; 
4th,  Jennetu-'n-Na'\m,    « the    Garden   of    Delight,*    of   white    silver; 
5th,  Jennetu-'l-Firdevs,  «the  Garden  of  Paradise,*  of  red  gold;  6th, 
Jennetu-'l-Qara.r,  <(the  Garden  of  Permanence,*  of  white  pearls;  7th, 
Jennetu-'l-'Aden,    «the    Garden    of    Eden,*    of    great    pearls.     Above 
these,  but  under  the  'AtfsA,  which  crowns  everything,  are  the  'Illiyyun, 
«the  Sublime  Heights,*  often  reckoned  as  an  Eighth    Mansion.     Dif- 
ferent writers  arrange  the  Mansions  differently,  but  the  above  is    the 
order    shown    in  my  diagram.     Of  course,  all  these  Seven,  or  Eight, 
Mansions  of  Paradise  are  above  the  Nine    Spheres,  concerning  which 
see  Note  84. 

29.  Ebu-Qusim,  (<the  Father  of    Qasim,*    is   one   of    the    styles    of 
Muhammed.     Qasim  was  the  name  of  that  Prophet's  only  son. 


r>-54  NOTES 

30.  No    one    figures    more    frequently   in   Ottoman  poetry  than  the 
Cup-bearer,  who  is  supposed    to    be  young    and    fair,    but    cruel    and 
hard-hearted,  and  pitiless  toward  his  or  her  hapless  lovers. 

31.  (These  figures  have  been  accidentally  omitted  in  the  text;  they 
should  appear  at  the  end  of  the  second  line  of  Sultan  Murad's  7?w3a'i.) 
The  reb&b,  which  I  translate  by  (<  rebeck,8  is  a  kind  of  viol  with  only 
one  chord.     A    picture    and    description    of  this  instrument  are  given 
in  Lane's  (<  Modern  Egyptians, »  Ed.  1860,  p.  364.     Two  sketches  of  the 
cheng,    or   <(  Persian    harp8  (the  instrument  mentioned  as  the  harp  in 
these  poems),  may  be  seen  in  the  same  author's  (<  Thousand  and  One 
Nights, »  Ed.  1842,  vol.  I.,  p.  228. 

32.  The  cypress  is  an  emblem  of  the  slender  figure  of    a    beautiful 
woman  or  youth,  whose  graceful  movements  are  likened  to  the  -waving 
of  that  tree.     The  fine,  the  juniper,  the  box-tree,  the  palm,    and   the 
ban,    or    Oriental    willow,    are    all    used    with    the    same    sense,    but 
much    less    frequently.     With    some   of   these  it  is  rather  a  twig  than 
the  whole  tree  that  is  alluded  to.     They  may  be  regarded  as  the  types 
of  the  beauty  of  motion.     These  comparisons  show  how  absurd  is   the 
notion  that  the  Turks  admire  excessive  fatness  in  women. 

33.  Her   bewitching    and    all-subduing    tresses,    blown    across    her 
beautiful  face,  are    like    the   invincible  Ottoman   heroes   scouring   the 
fair  province  of  Rwm-Eyli  (Rumelia). 

34.  Reng  u  2?u,  <(Tint  and  Scent,*  is  a  favorite  expression  for  em- 
bellished beauty.     <(  Her  quarter »  is  the  ward  of  the  town  where  she 
lives ;    IC\i    means    <(  street 8   in    Persian    but    (<  ward    of   a    town 8  in 
Turkish. 

35.  Compare  « Twelfth  Night,8  Act  I.,  scene  5:  — 

«  With  adorations,  fertile  tears, 
With  groans  that  thunder  love,  with  sighs  of  flame. » 

The  practice  of  introducing  the  takhallus,  or,  poetic  nom  de  plume, 
toward  the  end  of  a  gazel  has  been  noticed  in  the  Introduction, 
Sec.  II. 

36.  The  fCa'ba    is  the  Sacred  Temple    at    Mekka  toward  which  all 
Muslims  turn  in  their  devotions;  the  ntihrzb  is  the  niche  in  a  mosque 
wall  showing  the  direction  of   the  Holy  City.     (< Worship8  is  a  much 
better   translation    than    (<  prayer8    for   sal&t,    the   five-times-a-day    re- 
peated devotional  exercise  of  the  Muslims.     It  is  simply  an  act  of  ador- 
ation, not  of  prayer  in  the  sense  of  entreaty  at  all,  as  any  one  may  see 
by  reading  the  formula  given  in  Lane's  (<  Modern   Egyptians,8  pp.  76- 
78.     A  short  petition,  it  is  true,  may  be  offered  immediately  before  the 
close  of  the    ceremony;  but,  far  from  being  obligatory,  this  is  not  even 
recommended,  it  being  thought  more  respectful  to  leave  the  issues  of 
all  things  entirely   in  the  hands  of   God.     The   word   for  <( prayer8  is 
dtt'a.. 


NOTES  255 

37.  These  words,   which   in  the  original  are  in  Arabic,    occur   sev- 
eral times  as  an  injunction  in  the  Qur'an,   though  not  exactly  in  the 
order   used   by  the    Sultan    in  this   gazel.     Whenever   Arabic    clauses 
occur    in   these    poems    they  are    represented    in   the   translations    by 
italics. 

38.  Rij&l-i  Gayb,  "  the  Unseen  Ones,8  are  a  set  of  forty  mysterious 
beings    who    wander   over    the    surface  of  the    earth,    ready  to  impart 
spiritual  aid  to  those  who  seek  it.     For  an  account  of   them   see    pp. 
82,  83  of  an  interesting  work  called  <(  The  Dervishes,8  by  the  late  Mr. 
John  P.  Brown,  of  Constantinople   (Trwbner  and  Co.). 

39.  The   "Saints8  here    mentioned    are    the     VeRs,    or  "Friends  of 
God,8  concerning  whose  miracles  and  supernatural  powers  many  won- 
derful stories  are  related. 

40.  The  Prophet   is    sometimes   called    Ahmed  Mukhttfr   instead  of 
Muhammed  Mustafa,  both  names  having  the  same  meaning. 

41.  See  Introduction,  Sec.  I.,  for  the  true  signification  of  this  and 
similar  expressions. 

42.  Tutya.,  "zinc,8  "oxide  of  zinc,8   "sulphate  of  einc,8  is  used  as 
a  remedy  for  the   eyes;    pearls  are   powdered    with    it,    hence  a  poet 
often    compares    it   to   the   dust  on   which   his    mistress   has   trodden, 
mingled  with  his  own  pearly  tears. 

43.  Ambergris,   like  musk,    is  a  favorite  simile  for  the  hair,  being 
likewise  dark  and  sweet-scented. 

44.  Her  moon-like  brow,  perfumed  by  her  musky  hair,  is  seen  be- 
side her  rose-cheeks  and  hyacinth-tresses. 

45.  Her  curling  snake-like  locks  are  fallen  across  her  day-fair  face : 
just  as  the  snake  gains    strength  for   his  deadly   work   by  sleeping  in 
the  daytime,  so  do  her  locks   seem  all  the  more  beautiful  against  her 
white  skin,  and  thereby  increase  their  power  to  wound  her  lover. 

46.  This   is   a    pretty    example    of    the    Oriental    rhetorical    figure 
Husn-i  taTil,  which  may  be    translated,  "Eloquent   Indication  of  the 
Cause : 8  it  consists    in   attributing  the   cause  of  a  well  known  fact  to 
some   poetical  and  fanciful   idea.      Flowers,  as  is   well  known,  tied  to 
slips    of  wood,  are  carried  through  the  bazars   for  sale;  but  here  the 
poet   says  that  it  is  on  account  of  having  stolen  their  tint  and  scent 
from  his    mistress's   cheek,  that  they  are  bound  and  paraded  through 
the  public  places,  as  is  done  with  criminals. 

47.  A  lady's  chin  is  frequently  likened  to  an  apple.;  the  meaning  of 
the  line  is :  "  some    one  has  been    amorously  biting  thee.8    Through- 
out this  gazel  (which    is  more  curious   than    beautiful)  the   poet    up- 
braids his  mistress  for  entertaining  his  rivals. 

48.  A  peach    is  the   poetical   expression  in   Turkish    for  a   kiss;   so 
"  they've    eaten  peaches  in  thine  orchard  8    means :    "  they   have   been 
kissing  thee.8 


256  NOTES 

49.  Bitten  by  the  passionate  rival. 

50.  Kevser  is  the  name  of  a  river  in  Paradise  (see  Note  21);  here 
it  is  used  for  kindly  speech,  the  ripples  being  the  words;  so  the  line 
means  :  w  speak  to  us.* 

51.  The  doivn  upon  the  cheek  of  the  beloved  is  frequently  alluded 
to   by    Asiatic    poets.     There    is   here,    in    the    original,    a    favorite 
equivoque,   the    word   khatt   meaning  alike   ^down*  and    <(  writing.* 
Zeyneb's    idea    is:    <(when    thou    movest  thy   face,    the    down  (khatf) 
upon  thy  cheek  traces  in  the  air  lines  of  wiiting  (khatt),  so  fragrant 
that  they  form,  as  it  were,  a  written  command  to  the  breeze  to  go, 
and,  through  the  sweetness  with  which  they  have  impregnated  it,  con- 
quer the  native  land  of  musk.* 

52.  From   (Cathay  Kkata.)   and  Eastern  Tatary,    the   home  of   the 
musk-deer,  the  finest  musk  is  procured. 

53.  Somewhere  in  the  western  portion  of  the  Circumambient  Ocean 
(Note  6)  lies  the   Bahr-i  Zulum&t,  <(  The   Sea  of  Darknesses,*  and  in 
this    sea   is    situated    the    £>a.r-i  Zulum&t,  or  <(Land  of    Darknesses.* 
There  flows  the  (<  Fountain  of   Life,*  whereof    if   any   drink   he  lives 
forever;  but  so  many  and  terrible    are   the  dangers  that  confront  the 
traveler  in  the  Dark  Regions,  that  only  one  man  has  ever  succeeded 
in    overcoming   them   and    partaking    of   the  Water   of  Life.     This  is 
Khizr.*     Nothing    certain    is    known    of    this    mysterious    personage, 
though  many  legends  are   current    concerning   him.     Iskender  (Alex- 
ander the  Great),  with  all  his  army,  penetrated   into   the   Dark  Land 
in    quest    of   the    Life-giving   stream.     He    sent    forward    Khizr,  who 
acted  as  his  guide,  to  explore.  Finding  his  way  in  the  surrounding  gloom 
by  means  of  the  light  emitted  by  a  great  jewel   that  he   held   in   his 
hand,  Khizr  penetrated  to  the  very  centre  of  these  mysterious  regions. 
There  he  saw  a  narrow   stream,  like   a   thread  of  silver,  issuing  from 
the   ground.     That  was   the  Water  of  Life.     He  knelt  down,  drank  a 
deep  draught,  then  rose,  looked  to  the   ground,    and    lo !    the   Stream 
had   disappeared.      Iskender   wandered    backward    and   forward   for   a 
time  in  the  Land  of  Darkness,  but  could  find  no  trace  either  of  Khizr 
or   the    Fountain    of    Life,    and,    at    length    giving    up    the    hopeless 
search,  returned    to  his   own    country.     Khizr   is  by  some  thought  to 
be  identical   with   Elijah,    by    others    with    St.  George;    others   again 
believe  him   to    have    been    the    vez/r    of    Z«-'l-Qarneyn,    an    equally 
vague  and  uncertain  hero,  who  is   said   to  have  been  a  universal  con- 
queror and  to  have  lived  at  the  time  of  the  patriarch  Abraham.     We 
are   told   that   Khizr  often  comes  to  assist  or  direct  poor  Muslims  in 
difficulty,  when  his  appearance   is    that   of   a    venerable    man    clad   in 
green   vestments.     No   myth    is    a    greater   favorite   than  this   of  the 
Fountain  of  Life ;  the  Ottoman  poets   continually   refer   to    it,    gener- 
ally  mentioning   at  the   same  time  Darkness  and  Khizr  or  Iskender. 

*  In  the  translations,  for  the  sake  of  metre,  I  have  generally  spelled  this  name 
Khizar,  but  Khizr  is  the  correct  spelling  and  pronunciation. 


NOTES  257 

The  lips  of  the  beloved  are   frequently   compared   to   it,    as    in    these 
lines  by   Husn/ : — * 

My  loved  one's  lips  a  bright  carnelion  called  I , 
But  vain  words  these,  did  all  my  comrades  count: 
«  For  that,»  said  they,  «a  worthless  stone  of  Yemen; 
But  this,  in  sooth,  the  margin  round  life's  Fount.* 

54.  Lattft ,  after  quoting  this  poem  of  Zeyneb,  gives  in  his   Tezkera 
the    following   gazel  of  his  own  composition,  as  a  Nazira  (Introduc- 
tion, Sec.  II.)  to  the  verses  of  the   poetess;    it   is   translated   here    to 
serve  as  a  specimen  of  the  Naz'\ra:  — 

Hurt,  again  our  feast  as  shining  Paradise  array ! 

With  thy  sweet  lip  the  beaker  fill  brim-high  with  Kevser's  spray. 

O  Sufi/  if  thy  cell  be  dark  and  gloomy  as  thy  heart, 

Come,  then,  and  with  the  wine-cup's  lamp  it  light  with  radiance  gay. 

Heap  up,  like  aloes-wood,  f  the  flame  of  love  within  thy  breast ; 

From  thine  own  breath  to  all  earth's  senses  odors  sweet  convey. 

O  Zephyr  I  shouldst  thou  pass  the  home  of  her  we  love  so  well, 

Full  many  blessings  bear  to  her  from  us  who  her  obey. 

Come,  O  I,atj'f*',  and  ere  yet  the  Sphere  roll  up  thy  scroll, 

(Mad  be  not,)  make  thy  songs  a  book,  and  brook  thou  no  delay,  J 

55.  The  down  on  the  cheek,  which,  as  we   have   already  seen  (51), 
is   frequently   mentioned,    is    often   spoken  of  as  green  (khatt-i  sebz). 
The  word  green  in  this  expression  is  not  used  in   its   sense   of  color, 
but   in   its   meaning  of  fresh,  tender;  as  the  young  corn  when  newly 
come  up  is  beautifully  green  and  delicate.     However,  for   the   sake  of 
their  literary  conceits,  the    poets,  while   using  the    word   sebz  in  this 
sense,  still  retain  in  view  its  original  meaning  of  green   color.     Such 
is    the    case    in   the   present   instance,  when    Prince    Jem   desires    his 
mistress  to  lay  her  green  (*.  <?.,  soft)  down  (i.  <?.,  her  cheek)  upon  his 
breast,  scorched    by    the   fire    of   love,   because  it   is  right  that  fresh 
greens  be  spread  upon   roasted  meat.      Such    a    simile  as  this,  though 
revolting  to  European  taste,  is  neither  repellent  nor  ridiculous  in  the 
eyes  of  the  bolder  Asiatics;  and  we  shall  by-and-by  see   some   others 
like  it. 

56.  The    basil   is   his    disheveled    hair,  or    perhaps    his    beard;  the 
gardeners  are  his  eyes;  and  the  water  they  nightly  sprinkle  over  the 
basil    is    his   tears.     The  basil,  like  the  hyacinth,  is  a  common  meta- 
phor for  the  hair. 

57.  Kevn  u  Mek&n,  « Existence  and  Space,»  the  whole  Universe. 

58.  Durr-i  s&ehwar,  (<a  regal  pearl, »  the  finest  of  the  twelve  classes 
into  which,  according  to  their   lustre  and   purity,  pearls  are   divided. 
The  word  durr,  one  of   the   general   terms    for    «  pearl,*   is    also    the 
special  name  of  the  second  quality.     See  Note  146. 

*The  original  will  be  found  in  Mr.  Redhouse's  «  Turkish   Poetry,*  p.  33. 
t  Aloes-wood  is  celebrated  for  the  fragrance  it  emits  when  burned. 
\  These  two  lines  are  full  of  untranslatable  equivoques. 

17 


258  NOTES 

59.  The    occasions   when    the   qasidas   were  composed,  from  which 
this  and  the  two  following  extracts  are   taken,    are   mentioned   in   the 
Biographical  Notice  of  Nejati,  page  211. 

60.  Key-Khusrev  (Cyrus)  is   one   of  the  greatest  monarchs  of  the 
Keyam  dynasty  of   Persia.     For  his   adventures  see  Atkinson's   SAa.A- 


61.  Alluding    to   the   dark   heart  of   the   tulip.     The  comparison  of 
the  centre  of  the  tulip  to  a  burn  or  sear  is  of  constant  occuirence. 

62.  According  to  the  Oriental  tradition,  Jesus  did  not  die,  but  was 
translated  to  heaven. 

63.  Jemsh/d  was  the  fourth  King  of  the  Ptshdadt  dynasty,  the  first 
line  of  Persian    Kings  whose  adventures   are    recorded   in   the    Sh&k- 
N&ma.     He  was  eminent  in  learning  and  wisdom.     Coats  of  mail  and 
swords,  and  garments  of  silk  were  first  made  in  his  time.     He  reached 
the  summit  of  power  and  glory,  compelling  the  very  demons  to  con- 
struct for  him  a  gorgeous  palace  :  — 

He  taught  the  unholy  Demon-train  to  mingle 
Water  and  clay,  with  which,  formed  into  bricks, 
The  walls  were  built,  and  then  high  turrets,  towers, 
And  balconies,  and  roofs  to  keep  out  rain, 
And  cold,  and  sunshine.    Every  art  was  known 
To  Jemshid,  •without  rival  in  the  world.* 

After  a  time,  however,  pride  got  the  better  of  this  King,  and  his 
arrogance  and  presumption  so  displeased  God  that  He  raised  up  an 
Arabian  usurper  named  Zuhaq,  who  drove  the  Persian  sovereign  from 
his  throne.  After  years  of  wandering  in  poverty  and  misery,  he  fell 
into  the  hands  of  his  enemy,  who  put  him  to  a  cruel  death.  Jemshu'd 
is  represented  as  a  joyous  monarch,  fond  of  wine,  music,  and  other 
pleasures;  his  splendor  and  subsequent  fall  are  favorite  themes  with 
the  Eastern  poets. 

64.  Rum  is  KRome*;  Rumi,  <(  Roman.  *     The  names  *  Greek®  and 
(<  Greece*  are  unknown  in  the  East:   2~unan  represents  <(  Ionia.*     The 
Roman  conquest  of  Greece,  Asia  Minor,  and    Syria   completely  wiped 
from  the  Asiatic  mind  all  recollection  of   the  former  movers  in  these 
lands  :    Alexander    the    Great    is    known    only    as    Iskender-i    Rumi, 
"Alexander   the    Roman.*     From    that    day    to    this    the    dwellers   in 
these    regions    have    been    indiscriminately  called  <(  Romans  *   by  the 
Orientals;    and  their  emperor  —  Byzantine   or   Ottoman  —  is  Qaysar-i 
Rum,  <(  Cesar  of  Rome*:  no  other  Qaysar  is  recognized  in  the  East. 
Therefore  the  Ottoman  Empire  is,  and  has  been  for  centuries,  styled 
the    Roman    Empire,   or    simply    Rome,   by    Persians,   Eastern   Turks, 
Afgans,  and  Indians  ;   an  Ottoman  Turk  is  called  by  these   a    Roman, 
and  the  Ottoman  language,  the  Roman  language.     See  Note  259. 

*  Atkinson's  Shah-N&ma,  p.  8. 


NOTES  259 

65.  Khusrev,  as  has  been  noticed  (Note  10),  though  sometimes  applied 
specially  to  Khusrev  Pervt'z,  is  the  general  title  for  the  Kings   of  the 
Sasani  dynasty,  just  as  Cesar  is  the  peculiar  style  of  the  Emperors  of 
Rome ;  Pharaoh,  of  the  ancient  Kings  of  Egypt ;  Nejash*,  of  those  of 
Abyssinia;  and  so  forth.     It  is  used  here  in  this  general  sense,  simply 
to  signify  a  powerful  sovereign. 

66.  These    verses   are   addressed    by   Nejati  to  a   painted    handker- 
chief which  he  is  about  to  send   as   a   present    to   his   mistress.     The 
custom  of  sending  presents  of  painted  handkerchiefs,  which  are  much 
esteemed  by  the  Turks,  has   given    rise    to    the   otherwise    groundless 
fable,  current  in  Europe,  of  the  Sultan  throwing  a  handkerchief  toward 
her  among  his  odaliqs  whom  he  desires  to  honor  with  his  favors. 

67.  To    rub   up,   as   artists   do   their   colors.     The   meaning   of   the 
second    line  of   the    last  verse    is  that    the    poet    sheds  tears   of  blood 
(Notes  77-80)    so  profusely  that   a   thousand   handkerchiefs  would   be 
stained  crimson  by  them  in  a  single  moment. 

68.  This  is  from  Mes«h»'s  petition-gasida  which  he  addressed  to  the 
Nishanji  Pasha.     See  Biographical  Notices,  page  213. 

69.  This  ode  of  Mes*h«    is    perhaps  more  widely  known  in  Europe 
than  any  other  Turkish  poem.     Sir  William  Jones  first  published  the 
original   along  with    prose    renderings    in    English   and    Latin,  and   a 
paraphrase    in   English  verse.     His   Latin  version  was   reproduced  by 
Toderini  in  his  Letteratura   Turckesca;  and  his  English  prose  render- 
ing by  Davids  in  his  (<  Turkish  Grammar.8     A  German  paraphrase  ap- 
pears   in    Von    Hammer's  work,   and    a    French  [one    in    Servan    de 
Sugny's ;  in  fact,  I  doubt  if  there  be  any  European  treatise   on   Otto- 
man literature  in  which  this  poem  does  not  figure.     It   does   not   ap- 
pear, however,  to  have  attained  such  a  celebrity  in  its  native  land,  at 
least  it  is    not   mentioned  by  either   Latz'f/  or  Qinali-Zada,  nor  does 
Ziya  Beg  reproduce  it  in  his  Khar&b&t. —  The  present  translation  has 
already  appeared  in  the  Appendix  to  Mr.  W.  A.  Clouston's  (<  Arabian 
Poetry  for  English  Readers.* 

70.  The   season    (henga.m)  of   spring   is    said   to   cover  the    gardens 
with  heng&mas:  a  hengvuna   is    a   circle  of   beholders    drawn    round    a 
juggler  or   any  other   strange    sight;    here   it    means   the    clusters    of 
flowers,  or  perhaps  the  parties  of  friends  who  walk  about  in  the  gar- 
dens in  spring.     In  the  next  line   the   almond-tree    is   represented  as 
throwing  down  its  white  blossoms,  like   the  silver   coins   scattered   at 
weddings :  perhaps    it    is    supposed   to   throw  them  to    the  imaginary 
jugglers. 

71.  Ahmed,  as  we  have  seen  (Note  40) ,  is  another  form  of  Muham- 
med.    The  ^parterre*  he»-e  referred  to  is  the  world  (of  Islam),  the  gar- 
den, or  mead,  being  its  poetic  symbol.     The  «  Light  of  Ahmed  w  (Nur-i 
Ahmed)  means,  primarily,  <(the  Glory  of   Muhammed8;  but  it  seems 
also  to  be  the  name  of  some  flower,  and,  lastly,  probably  refers  here 
to  some  Turkish  victory  recently  gained,  or  peace  concluded. 


260  NOTES 

73.  The  expression  *  gipsy-party®  is  a  paraphrase  here.  The  original 
word  tavila  means,  in  this  instance,  <(  a  row  of  horses  from  a  stable, 
picketed  out  at  grass  in  the  open.®  Therefore  the  line 

Zh&lelcr  aldi  Aew&-yi  tavila-la  gulsheni 

signifies:   (<the  dew-drops  have  taken    possession  of  the  garden,   with 
the  wish  to  picket  their  horses  there,®  »'.  e. ,  hold  a  pic-nic  party  in  it. 

73.  This  again  may  allude  to  some  battle  in  which  many  illustrious 
Turks  fell.     Sir  W.  Jones'  original,  which  is    in  many  places    corrupt, 
has  in  this  line  shemsin,  (<of  the  sun,®  instead  of  shimshek  « lightning.® 

74.  Literally :  *  had  its  head  in  its  heart,*  referring  to  the  unopened 
rosebud. 

75.  <(May  the  worthy,®  *'.  e.,  may  those  who  appreciate  these  verses, 
etc. —  A  youth  with  new  moustaches  is  called  <(  f our-eyebrowed. ®     The 
* f our-eyebrowed  beauties®  are  the  verses  of  four  hemistichs  each. 

76.  It  is  perhaps  needless  to  remind  the  reader  of  the  well-known 
Eastern  myth   concerning  the  love  of  the  bnlbul,  or  Nightingale,  for 
the  Rose,  and  his  consequent  joy  in  springtide  and  despair  in  autumn. 
Mestht   himself    is    the    bnlbul    here.     The    nightingale   is  sometimes 
called  the  Bird  of  Dawn,  or  of  Night. 

77.  <(To  drink  one's   own  blood®   means    to  suffer    intense  sorrow; 
similarly,  <(  to  shed  tears  of  blood  ®  is  to  weep  in  bitter  anguish. 

78.  Jupiter,  in  astrology,  is  the  most    auspicious  of  all  the  planets. 
He  is  called    Sa'd-i  Ekber,  « the  Greater   Fortune ;  »   Venus   is   Sa'd-i 
Asgar,  (<the  Lesser  Fortune;®  Saturn,  on  the  other  hand,  is  Nahs-i 
Ekber,  <(  the  Greater   Infortune ;  ®  while  Mars    is   Nahs-i  Asgar,  <(the 
Lesser  Infortune.®  The  Sun,  the   Moon,   and  Mercury  are  indifferent, 
but  their  positions   exercise  a  great  influence  in  horoscopes. 

79.  See  Note  53.     Iskender  was  the  name  of  Minn's  beloved  (see  Bio- 
graphical Notices  page  215),  hence  the  aptness  of  the  allusion. 

80.  This  gazel,  like   most  of  the  works  of  Sultan  Seh'm  I.,  is  written 
in  Persian;  in  it  he    refers  to   his  many  conquests.     This  is  the  only 
poem  in  the  present  collection  the  original  of  which  is  not  in  Otto- 
man Tuikish. 

81.  Istambol  is  the  Turkish    name    for   Constantinople,   whence   the 
European  corruption,  Stamboul.     Iran    is  Persia. 

82.  The  Turks   used  to  call  the  Persians  Qizil-Bash,  « Gold-Heads,® 
on  account  of  the  gold,  or  gilt,  helmets  worn  by  the  guards  of  the  Shah. 
Qizil  means  w red®  in  Ottoman,  but<(  gold®  in   Persian  (^zerbayj^m) 
Turkish :  Fuzwh'  sometimes   uses  it  in  this  latter  sense. 

83.  Alluding  to  the  Memlwk,  or  Slave-Sultans  of  Egypt,  overthrown 
by  Seli'm's   courage  or  resolution. 


NOTES  261 

84.  In  Note  28  the  Nine  Spheres  are  referred  to  as  being  between 
the  earth  and  the  lowest  of  t'.ie  Mansions  of  Paradise.     According  to 
the  Ptolemaic  astronomy  of  the  Muslims,  these  Spheres  are  as  follows; 
commencing  from    below   and   going  upward:    ist,  the  Sphere   of   the 
Heaven   of    the    Moon;    2d,  of  Mercury;   3d,    of   Venus;  4th,    of     the 
Sun;  5th,  of  Mars;  6th,  of  Jupiter;    7th,  of  Saturn;  8th,  of  the  Fixed 
Stars,    the   Firmament,   the   Starry   Vault;    gth,    the    Empyrean,    the 
Primum  Mobile,  the   Heaven  of  Heavens,  <(  beyond  which   God   holds 
His   state    in    unapproachable,   inconceivable   grandeur,    majesty,   and 
splendor.*      When  personified   in  poetry,  the  Moon  usually  represents 
a  fair  girl  or  youth  ;  Mercury,  a  penman ;   Venus,   a  beautiful   female 
musician;  the  Sun,    a  sovereign;  Mars,  a    warrior;  Jupiter,   a   judge; 
and  Saturn,  an  old  man. 

85.  'Iraq  and   Hijaz  are  the  names  of  well-known  musical  modes  as 
well   as  of  provinces,  hence  the  jeu  de  mot. 

86.  The    kuhl,    «kohol,»    « stibium,8   of   Isfahan    is    the  most    cele- 
brated.    Seli'm  means  to  say  that  he  defeated  the  lords  of  Isfahan. 

87.  The  Amu   is  the  river  Oxus. 

88.  Literally,   <(  elephant-mated : *  the  Bishop  in  chess  is    called   the 
*  elephant *  in  the  East.     That  piece  is  here  mentioned  on  account  of 
India  being  celebrated  in  connection  with  elephants.  <(  Queenly  troops  * 
are  troops  formidable,  as  is  the  Queen  in  Chess.     See  Note  220. 

89.  That  is :   <(  God    gave  me  the   dominion  of  the  world  because   I 
loved   Him.*     Sa'du-'d-D/'n,  the  Historian    of  the  Empire,   the  author 
of   the  7a/«-V-  TVvarikh,    «The  Tiara  of  Histories*  calls  Self  in  I.  a 
Dervish  in  heart. 

90.  Ibh's  is  the  Muslim  name  for  Satan.     The  word  is  probably  the 
same  as  Diabolus. 

91.  The  moth's  love  for  the  taper  is  a  constant    theme    with   Asian 
poets.     The   moth    is   a    truer   lover   than  even    the    nightingale ;   for, 
whereas  the  latter  tells  its  love  and    its    woes    to   all    the    world,   the 
former,  without  a  sigh,  perishes  in  its  beloved  flame. 

92.  The  Eastern  poets  always  speak  of  -wounds  as  fo-wert. 

93.  Oriental  writers  frequently  call  a  pretty  woman  or  youth  nig&r, 
(<a  picture*;  just  as  we  might  say,  (<a  perfect  picture  of  a  girl.*    In 
the  fourth   line  occurs    the  phrase  a£  u  dana,  *  water  and   grain,*  all 
that  a  bird  requires  to  live  upon;  here,  of  course,  it  is  an  equivoque 
referring  to  the  -watered  and  grained  steel. 

94.  Erga-w&n,  (<the  judas-tree,*   Cercis  Siliquastrum^  is  often  men- 
tioned in  Oriental  poetry,  always  in  connection  with  its  beautiful  red 
flowers.     It  is  common  in  Persian  gardens,  where  it  attains  the  height 
of  the   laburnum. 


262  NOTES 

95.  Joseph  is  the  type  of  youthful  beauty.  In  this  poem  of  Lami'i, 
the  Sun  is  compared  to  him  by  reason  of  its  lustre.  The  Sun  enters 
Libra  in  September;  Joseph  sold  corn  to  the  Egyptians  by  -weight: 
hence  their  <(  passing  to  the  Balance.®  The  loves  of  Joseph  and 
Zuleykha  (Potiphar's  wife)  are  as  famous  in  the  East  as  those  of 
Khusrev  and  Sh»r*'n,  or  Ley li  and  Mejnwn.  Zuleykha  spent  great 
riches  in  purchasing  and  rearing  Joseph ;  here  <(  the  year's  Zuleykha  * 
is  autumn,  and  the  gold  coins  she  scatters  are  the  yellow  leaves. 

The  following  is  an  abridgment  of  the  romance  of  Joseph  and 
Zuleykha.  Joseph,  the  youngest  and  best  beloved  son  of  Jacob,  was 
so  lovely  even  in  his  infancy  that  his  aunt,  who  nursed  him,  owing 
to  the  death  of  his  mother,  attempted,  though  vainly,  to  retain  pos- 
session of  him  by  fraud. 

The  King  of  Magreb  (Marocco)  had  a  daughter  called  Zuleykha, 
the  most  beautiful  of  her  sex,  as  Joseph  was  the  fairest  of  his.  One 
night  this  Princess  saw  Joseph  in  a  vision,  and,  though  she  knew  not 
who  he  was,  fell  deeply  in  love  with  him,  and  her  passion  so  preyed 
upon  her  that  she  lost  her  health  and  all  pleasure  in  her  old  pur- 
suits. On  two  other  occasions  the  beautiful  object  of  her  love  ap- 
peared to  her  in  visions,  on  the  second  of  which,  in  reply  to  her 
question  as  to  his  name  and  country,  he  told  her  that  he  was  Grand 
Vez«'r  of  Egypt.  Ambassadors  from  many  kings  came  to  her  father, 
asking  her  in  marriage  for  their  masters,  but  Zuleykha  would  have 
none  of  them,  and  induced  her  father  to  send  a  messenger  to  the 
Grand  Vez*r  of  Egypt,  requesting  him  to  accept  her  as  his  wife. 
The  Egyptian  noble  at  once  agreed,  and  Zuleykha  was  sent  with  a 
splendid  retinue  to  the  capital  of  the  Pharaohs;  but  great  was  her 
dismay  on  seeing  in  the  Vez/'r  an  aged  man,  very  different  from  the 
lovely  youth  of  her  visions. 

In  the  meantime,  Joseph's  brothers,  envious  of  the  great  love 
borne  by  their  father  toward  the  fair  boy,  persuaded  Jacob  to  allow 
his  darling  son  to  accompany  them  to  the  fields,  and  there  cast  him 
into  a  deep  pit,  purposing  to  let  him  perish  of  hunger.  A  caravan 
happened  shortly  afterward  to  pass  that  way,  when  one  of  the  mer- 
chants, feeling  thirsty,  came  to  draw  water  from  the  well  into  which 
Joseph  had  been  cast.  The  latter,  when  the  bucket  was  let  down, 
got  into  it,  and  was  drawn  up;  the  merchant  being  greatly  delighted 
at  finding  so  valuable  a  prize.  He  took  his  fair  captive  with  him  to 
the  Egyptian  capital,  and  exposed  him  for  sale  in  the  slave-market 
there.  The  fame  of  the  wondrous  beauty  of  the  young  Hebrew  was 
noised  all  over  the  city,  and  princes  and  nobles  bid  against  each  other 
to  obtain  possession  of  him.  The  sad  Zuleykha  in  her  splendid 
palace  heard  of  the  lovely  slave,  and  determined  to  go  and  see  for 
herself  this  peerless  beauty.  She  did  so,  and  at  once  recognized  in 
him  the  youth  she  had  seen  in  her  dreams,  and  for  whose  sake  she 
had  left  her  father's  land  and  come  to  the  banks  of  the  Nile.  She 
implored  the  Vez»'r  to  buy  the  boy  and  bring  him  up  as  his  own  son ; 
for,  as  the  translator  of  Jamt^s  poem  says,  <(Zuleykha's  nominal  hus- 


NOTES  263 

band  belonged  to  ( that  unhappy  class  which  a  practice  of  immemorial 
antiquity  in  the  East  excluded  from  the  pleasures  of  love  and  from 
the  hope  of  posterity. >»  The  noble  did  so,  Zuleykha  giving  many 
of  her  jewels  and  treasures  to  aid  in  the  purchase.  Under  the  same 
roof  with  the  object  of  her  love,  the  Magreb/  Princess  imagined  that 
her  woes  were  over,  but  she  was  greatly  mistaken.  Joseph  was  as 
virtuous  as  he  was  beautiful,  and  all  Zuleykha's  wiles  and  entreaties 
were  in  vain,  for  the  descendant  of  the  Prophets  would  not  even 
raise  his  eyes  to  hers.  The  love  of  the  Grand  Vez*r's  lady  for  her 
slave,  and  his  coldness  toward  her,  became  the  talk  of  the  city;  and 
the  ladies  of  the  capital  severely  blamed  Zuleykha  for  her  conduct. 
In  order  to  reprove  them,  the  Princess  invited  them  all  to  a  grand 
banquet,  in  the  course  of  which  she  asked  if  they  would  like  to  see 
Joseph ;  they  all  replied  that  there  was  nothing  they  desired  so  much. 
She  then  gave  to  each  an  orange  and  a  knife,  telling  them  not  to  cut 
the  fruit  till  Joseph  appeared.  Then  she  summoned  the  youth,  on 
beholding  whose  perfect  loveliness  all  the  ladies,  bewildered,  cut  their 
hands  instead  of  the  oranges.  They  at  once  declared  that  Zuleykha 
was  free  from  all  blame,  for  it  was  impossible  to  resist  such  charms. 
Angered  at  last  by  Joseph's  stubbornness,  Zuleykha  determined  that 
she  should  not  be  the  only  one  to  suffer;  so  she  falsely  accused  him 
to  the  Vez/'r  of  having  tried  to  seduce  her.  The  minister,  enraged 
at  this  return  for  his  many  kindnesses,  cast  his  slave  into  prison; 
but  Zuleykha's  love  still  burned  fiercely  as  ever,  though  she  was  the 
cause  of  Joseph's  present  misfortune,  and  her  only  pleasure  lay  iu 
gazing  on  the  roof  of  the  dungeon  in  which  he  was  inclosed.  Joseph 
soon  made  friends  with  his  fellow-captives,  among  whom  were  two 
officers  of  the  King's  household.  One  night  they  each  had  a  singular 
dream,  which  they  related  to  their  Hebrew  friend :  he  told  the  one 
that  his  vision  signified  impending  execution ;  the  other  that  his 
indicated  approaching  release  and  restoration  to  favor,  and  requested 
the  latter  to  mention  his  own  hard  case  before  the  King.  Things 
fell  out  as  Joseph  had  predicted;  but  the  fortunate  officer  forgot  all 
about  his  friend  until  the  King  has  a  strange  dream  of  seven  fat  kine 
followed  by  seven  lean,  and  seven  full  ears  of  corn  followed  by  seven 
thin.  No  one  was  found  able  to  interpret  this  vision,  till  the  officer, 
bethinking  himself  of  Joseph,  ran  to  the  prison  and  inquired  of  him 
the  signification.  The  Hebrew  answered  that  it  meant  seven  years  of 
plenty  followed  by  seven  years  of  dearth.  Hastening  back  to  the 
King,  the  officer  related  what  he  had  heard;  the  monarch,  delighted, 
requested  Joseph  to  appear  before  him,  but  this  the  latter  declined 
to  do  until  his  innocence  was  established.  So  Zuleykha  and  the 
ladies  who  had  been  present  at  her  banquet  were  summoned  to  the 
royal  presence,  where  they  all  acknowledged  that  Zuleykha  herself 
was  the  guilty  one.  Joseph  was  then  brought  before  the  King,  who 
made  him  Grand  Vezz'r  and  practical  ruler  of  his  dominions.  The 


264  NOTES 

Old  Grand  Vez/'r  died  soon  afterward,  and  Zuleykha  lost  all  her 
worldly  wealth.  With  hair  turned  grey  through  bitter  sorrow,  and 
eyes  blinded  from  constant  weeping,  she  dwelt,  a  poor  beggar,  in  a 
hut  of  reeds  by  the  roadside.  Pondering  there  on  her  sad  lot,  she 
thought  how  ill  her  god  had  treated  her,  and  she  resolved  to  embrace 
the  One  True  Faith.  So  she  rose  and  broke  her  idol;  and  a  little 
afterward  she  stood  in  Joseph's  way  as  he  rode  past,  and  begged  for 
alms.  The  Vezt'r  did  not  recognize  her,  but  struck  by  her  sad  voice, 
he  ordered  her  to  be  brought  to  his  palace.  There  she  told  her  tale, 
and  how  she  had  embraced  Islam;  she  entreated  Joseph  to  pray  to 
Allah  that  she  might  receive  back  her  sight  and  her  beauty.  He  did 
so,  and  she  became  again  fair  as  when  she  left  her  native  land.  Her 
husband  being  dead,  there  was  nothing  now  to  prevent  her  union 
with  Joseph;  so  they  were  wedded  with  all  pomp,  and  lived  in  hap- 
piness till  death  sundered  them. 

96.  The  yellow  leaves. 

97.  Brides  in  Turkey  sometimes  deck  their  faces  with  gilt  spangles : 
the  line  alludes  to  the  vine-leaves  beginning  to  wither. 

98.  The  stems  of  the  vine  are  supposed  to  be  in  the  stream. 

99.  The  (<  hands*  of  the  plane-tree  are  its  palmated  leaves. 

100.  Hinna,  La-wsonia  inermis,  the  well-known  red  dye  with  which 
Oriental  women    stain    their    hands.     Here    again    Lcmi't    refers    to 
the  leaves  withering. 

101.  Shooting-stars  are  supposed  to  be  flaming  bolts,  hurled,  by  tne 
angels  that  guard  the  confines  of  the  lowest  heaven,  at  those  demons 
who  creep  up  to    overhear   the    divine    secrets    discussed  in  Paradise. 
The  meteors  are,  of  course,  the  falling  leaves. 

102.  That  is,   blossoms.     The  ^poor,*    in  the    second    last   line,  are 
the  bare  trees. 

103.  The  tossing  of  the  rosebud  in  the  wind  is  here  likened  to  the 
acrobatic  performances  of  the  *  tumbler*  pigeon. 

104.  Like  dancers  with  tambourines,  and  knives  tossed  about. 

105.  The  original  word  here  is  jorjuna,  meaning  wild  orgies.     The 
allusion  is  to  the  motion  of  branches  in  the  wind. 

106.  This  is  the  concluding  strophe  of  an  Elegy  on  Sultan  Seh'm  I. ; 
the  original  will  be  found  in  Mr.  Redhouse's  *  Turkish  Poetry,*  p.  28. 

107.  Asei,  the  Asaph  of  the  Psalms,  is  reputed  in  the  East  to  have 
been  the  vezir  of  Suleyman   (Solomon)  ;  he  is  the  type  of  ministerial 
wisdom. —  A    muskir  is    a    (<  field-marshal.*     Sel/'m  was    his  own  vez/r 
and  mush/r,  minister  and  general. 

108.  This  couplet  is  very  highly  esteemed   in  Turkey ;    it  is  quoted 
in  all  the  anthologies.     In  a  brief  reign  of  less  than  nine  years,  Seh'm 
I.  doubled  the   extent  of    the  Ottoman  dominions.     I   have  attempted 


NOTES  265 

to    preserve   here    the   equivoque    between    '  as r,   «  epoch,*   and  '  asr, 
tt  afternoon.® 

109.  The  entire  strophe  shows  many  instances  of  the  Oriental  figure 
called  tejn\s,  which  I  render  by  (<  equivoque  * ;  but  as  this  and  the 
three  following  lines  contain  even  more  examples  than  the  others,  I 
give  them  here  in  Turkish  (printing  the  tejnis  in  italics)  to  serve  as 
a  specimen  of  this  favorite,  and  often  very  ingenious,  literary  conceit; 
I  have  made  an  effort  to  retain  some  of  them  in  the  translation :  — 

Rezm  ishinda  ve  bezm  '  ishinda, 
Gurmedi  pzr-i  cherkh  ana  nazir. 
Chiqsa  eywan-i  bezma,  mihr-i  mumr  ! 
Girsa  meyd&n-i  rezma,  sh»r-i  dili'r ! 

no.  This  poem  was  composed  by  Gazal/,  on  the  occasion  of  the 
execution  of  his  patron,  the  Defterdar  Iskender  Chelebi. 

in.  The  (<  perfection  *  of  a  star  is  its  ascension,  its  w defect*  is  its 
setting.  Iskender  held  high  place  near  the  Sultan. 

112.  The    intrigues  of   his  rival,  Ibrahim  Pasha,  were    the  cause  of 
Iskender's  execution.     The   <( lofty  decree  for    his  high   exaltation*  is 
the  Divine  order  for  him  to  be  raised  to  heaven. 

113.  Like  a  bird. 

114.  Concerning  the  supposed  connection  between  Islam  and  fatalism, 
Mr.  Redhouse  says:  «  Qader,  ( Providence, >  is  the  Islamic  word  which 
Europeans    so    unjustly    translate   by    the  terms  <fate)  and  ( destiny.* 
Islam  utterly  abhors   those    old    pagan    ideas,   and    reposes  on   God's 
providence  alone;  which  some  will  say  is  the  same  thing.     The  terms 
qaza.  and  qismet,  quasi-synonyms  of  qadr  and  qader,  mean,  the  former, 
God's  decree,  the  latter  one's  allotted  portion.     Both  may  correctly  be 
translated  by  our  term  dispensation.     True  that  astrologers,  dervishes, 
and  poets  talk  about  the  Sphere  (Felek)  as  ruling  or  influencing  sub- 
lunary events.     To  Islam,  this  is  either  rank  paganism  and  blasphemy, 
or  a  special  application  of  the  admitted  truism  that  here  below  God 
acts  through  secondary  causes.** 

In  these  poems  Fate  and  the  Sphere  are  frequently  mentioned,  some- 
times even  prayed  to ;  the  Sphere  especially  being  often  spoken  of  as 
bringing  good  or  evil  in  its  revolutions.  But  such  expressions  are 
no  more  to  be  regarded  as  true  declarations  of  the  poet's  belief  than 
are  his  repeated  calls  for  wine  to  be  looked  upon  as  indicating  a 
desire  for  the  actual  juice  of  the  grape. —  The  word  used  in  the 
present  poem  is  not  the  Arabic  qader,  but  the  Persian  ruzlk&r,  which 
literally  means  <(  day-maker  *;  it  therefore  includes  the  ideas  of  time, 
fortune,  events,  accidents,  etc. —  everything  which  goes  to  make  up 
days  as  they  affect  man.  These  last  two  lines  of  Gazalt  savor  more 
of  Hindwism  than  of  Islam. 

*JEl-EsntBi'u-'l-ffusna,  «  The  Most  Comely  Names,*  p.  51.  Trwbner  and  Co.  Re- 
printed from  the  *  Journal  »  of  the  Royal  Asiatic  Society,  1880. 


266  NOTES 

115.  The    parrot    is    called    the    sugar-eater.       Being    a     beautiful 
creature,  and    possessed    of    the    wondrous    power    of    speech    (when 
taught),  a   fair  woman   with    a   sweet  voice  is  not  unfrequently  com- 
pared to  it. 

116.  JVur-i  Muhammed,  <(the  Light,*  or  <(  Essence  of  Muhammed,* 
was  the  first  thing  God    created   in    eternity,  though    its    incarnation 
was  late.     It   is   legendarily    reported    that   the   body   of  the  Prophet 
cast  no  shadow. 

117.  Referring  to  the  Egyptian  ladies  who  cut  their  hands  through 
their  bewilderment  on  seeing  Joseph's  beauty.     See  Note  95. 

118.  In  the  Qur'an,  liv.,  i.,  we  read:  (<And  the  moon  is  split  asun- 
der.*    This    is   traditionally    referred    to   a    miracle;    the    unbelievers 
having  asked   Muhammed   for   a   sign,  the  moon  appeared  cloven  in 
twain. 

119.  The    legend    runs   that  when   Jesus   was   translated   from    the 
world,  he  was  found  to  have  nothing  earthly  about  him,  save  a  needle 
stuck  in  his  garment.      But  in  consequence  thereof  he  got  only  half- 
way to  Paradise,  and  now  lives  in  the  Fourth  Heaven,  that  of  the  Sun, 
where  he  will  abide  till  he  comes  again  in  glory. 

120.  Alluding  to  generation. 

121.  The  <( golden  birds*  are  the  stars;  the  <( quicksilver-resplendent 
deep*  is  the  sky.      This  is  a  very  mystic  gazel;  the  couplet  in  ques- 
tion means :  <(  What  if  I  send  my  intellect  to  fathom  the  mysteries  of 
the  Universe.* 

122.  The  Eastern  poets  seem  to  confuse  the  colors  blue  and  green, 
or  rather,  to  look  upon  the  former  as  a  variety  of   the    latter;  as   we 
might   call    crimson   and1  pink    both    red.      Lami'i's  poems  offer  two 
instances  of  this;  in  the  last  line  of  No.  I.  he  compares  a   tree   with 
some  of  its  leaves  withered  to  the  starry  sky;  and  in  the  eighth  line 
from    the  end  of    No.  III.  he    likens    the    green   mead,  covered   with 
drops  of  dew,  to  the  star-filled  heavens.      So  Khiyah'  here  speaks  of 
the  Nine  Spheres  (the  sky)  as  being  emerald-hued. 

123.  Von  Hammer  says  that    Prince  Bayezi'd   composed  these   lines 
a  few  days  before  his  death. 

124.  Bells  are  worn  by  the  beasts  in  a  caravan.      The  meaning  is: 
(<The  animals  are  being   harnessed  for  the  journey,  and  I  shall   soon 
be  off.* 

125.  Suleynuzn,  or  Solomon,  the   King  of  Israel,  is  looked  upon  as 
the  beau  ideal  of   an   Eastern    monarch.      The  Oriental  writers  speak 
with  enthusiasm   of   his    justice    and  wisdom,  his  might  and  magnifi- 
cence ;  he  is   held   to    have    been   a    prophet ;    he    was   perfect    in  all 
sciences,  and  understood  the  language  of  birds  and  beasts.     The  winds 
were  subject  to  his   command,  and  used  to  bear  his  carpet,  on  which 
stood  his  throne  and  his  troops,  wheresoever  he  willed.     Jinns,  demons, 


NOTES  267 

and  fairies  were  all  under  his  control,  and  constrained  to  do  his  bid- 
ding. The  secret  of  his  wonderful  power  was  his  Ring  (Solomon's 
Seal),  on  which  was  graven  The  Most  Great  Name;  by  virtue  of  this 
magic  Signet  he  was  lord  of  creation.  The  evil  jinns,  whom  he  thus 
subdued,  he  compelled  to  adopt  the  Faith  of  Islam  — (<  There  is  no 
god  but  God,** — and  in  case  of  refusal,  he  thrust  the  obstinate  mis- 
believers into  copper  vessels,  which  he  secured  by  the  impress  of  his 
Seal,  and  cast  them  into  the  Circumambient  Ocean.  These  were 
occasionally  washed  on  shore  in  after  ages.  Every  one  will  recollect 
the  story  of  the  Fisherman,  in  the  «  Thousand  and  One  Nights,8  who 
found  one  while  pursuing  his  vocation. 

The  legend  alluded  to  by  Fuguli  is  as  follows :  A  demon,  called 
Sakhr,  managed  to  get  possession  of  the  Ring  by  appearing  in  the 
shape  of  Suleyman  to  one  of  that  monarch's  concubines,  Em/na  by 
name,  to  whom  the  King  used  to  intrust  the  Signet  when  he  washed. 
Having  received  the  Ring  from  her,  Sakhr  seated  himself  upon  the 
throne,  and  did  what  seemed  to  him  good.  But  so  infamous  was  his 
conduct,  that,  on  the  fortieth  day,  the  Grand  Vez/r  Asef,  and  some 
doctors  of  the  Law,  determined  (perhaps  in  the  hope  of  admonishing 
him)  to  read  the  Scriptures,  in  his  presence.  No  sooner  did  the  Word 
of  God  fall  upon  the  demon's  ear  than  he  resumed  his  native  form, 
and  fled  in  haste  to  the  seashore,  where  the  Signet  dropped  from 
him.  By  the  providence  of  God,  the  Ring  was  swallowed  by  a  fish. 
When  Suleyman  had  been  deprived  of  his  throne,  the  light  of  proph- 
ecy departed  from  him,  and  no  one  recognized  him.  So  for  forty 
days  he  wandered  about  the  country,  begging  for  alms.  On  the  for- 
tieth he  entered  the  service  of  a  fisherman,  who  gave  him  as  his 
daily  wages  two  fishes.  The  fish  which  had  swallowed  the  Signet  was 
taken  by  the  fisherman  and  given  to  Suleyman,  who  thus  re- 
covered his  Ring,  and  with  it  his  kingdom.  Sakhr  was  caught,  im- 
prisoned in  one  of  the  copper  vessels  already  mentioned,  sealed  with 
the  Ring,  and  cast  into  the  Sea  of  Tiberias,  where  he  must  remain 
till  the  Resurrection  Day. 

The  identity  of  name  between  the  great  Turkish  Sultan  (Suleyman 
I.)  and  the  sage  Hebrew  King  is  a  very  lucky  coincidence  for  the 
Ottoman  poets,  as  it  affords  them  endless  opportunities  for  compar- 
ing and  purposely  confusing  these  two  mighty  sovereigns,  each  the 
greatest  of  his  nation.  Thus  it  is  not  unlikely  that  Fuzwl*  alludes 
in  these  lines  to  the  defeat  of  some  rebellious  beg  or  pasha  who  had 
risen  against  Sultan  Sulejman's  authority. 

126.  <(The  heart  turning  blood  »  means  suffering  profound  vexation. 

127.  It  is  believed  in  the  East   that   rubies    are    common   stones  on 
which  the  sun  has  shone  for  ages. 

128.  Mihr-i  rukhs&rin.     Mihr  means  alike  «sun>>  and  ^love.* 

129.  The  eye  is   compared   to   a   metallic   mirror,  such   as    is    com- 
monly used  in  the  East. 


268  NOTES 

130.  A  pretty  mouth  is  sometimes  likened  to  Suleyman's  Ring  (125), 
not  only  on  account  of  its  form,  but  also  by  reason  of  its  bewitching 
power.     At  other  times  the  mouth  is  a  casket;  the  teeth  being  pearls, 
and  the  gums,  rubies  or  coral. — See  the  first  gazel  of  Muhibb*. 

131.  When  God  created   man,  He   commanded   the    angels   to    bow 
before  him ;  for  the  human  nature   is   higher  than    the   angelic,  inas- 
much as  man  has  his  eternal  destiny  in  his  own  hands,  and  the  choice  of 
doing  good  or  evil;  for  Islam  is  not,  as  is  generally  believed  by  Eu- 
ropeans, fatalistic.     See  Qur'an,  ii.,  32,  etc.;  also  Note  114. 

132.  In  this  beautiful  couplet  the  moon  and  sun  both  represent  the 
poet's  mistress;  he  is  the  taper. 

133.  There  is  a  poetic  and  very  ancient    Eastern  notion  that  pearls 
are  formed  in  oysters  by  drops  of  rain  or  dew  falling  into  them. 

134.  The  word  dud  means  both  (<  smoke  ®  and  w  sigh  ;  *  the  sigh  is  sup- 
posed   to    be    the    smoke    of    the    heart,    consumed    by    the  fire     of 
sorrow. 

135.  The  district  where  my  love    dwells   is,  through    her   presence, 
Paradise;  but  there  is  grief  enough  there  for   me,    by   reason   of  her 
unkindness  and  my  rivals'  persecution. 

136.  Ziya    Beg   has  written  a  sort   of    parody  on    this    museddes   of 
Fuzttlt,  which  appears  in  his  Khar&b&t. 

137.  A  poet    sometimes    likens    the    tongue   of   his   mistress    to   the 
small  pistachio-nut. — From  qand,  the  Eastern  word  used  here,  comes 
our  w  candy.® 

138.  A  lady's  crescents  are  her   eyebrows. 

139.  Her  face  is  the  moon;  her  hair,  the  clouds. 

140.  This  is  the  explanation  of  these  two  lines:     A   cypress    grows 
by    the   water,  spring,  or   fountain  —  (poetically)    sets    its   foot  in  it: 
Bash  guz-ustuna,  ft  on    (my)  head    and  eye  ®  ( (<  I    shall    willingly   do 
thy  pleasure*),  is  a  common  phrase.     Conquerors    set   their   feet    on 
the  neck  of  the  vanquished :     Thus  a  cypress-like  beauty  may  set  her 
foot  on  the  head,  in   the    (streaming)  eye     the     (fount)    of    her    van- 
quished lover ;  but  if  she  put  it  in  his  eye,  the  lashes  may  pierce  her 
tender  foot. 

141.  Her  hair  hung  over  her  cheeks. 

142.  Eastern    women    sometimes   tatoo    their  feet,    hands,    or  face. 
See  <(  Modern  Egyptians,®  page  39. 

143.  That  is:  <(How  have  thy  white  feet  become  red?® 

144.  Her  curls  twisting  over  her  face  are  compared  to  a  scorpion's 
claws ;  therefore  her  face,  encircled  by  her  hair,  is  the  Moon   in   the 
Sign  Scorpio,  a  conjunction  regarded  as  menacing  by  astrologers. 

145.  Her  dog-rose  and  tulip  are  her  white  face  and  red  cheeks. 


NOTES  269 

146.  The  pearls  of  'Aden  and  the  Persian  Gulf  are  highly  esteemed. 
Khosh-'a.b,  <(fair   lustres, 8  are  the   second    class  of   pearls,  called   also 
nejmi,  (<  starry, 8  and  'uyun,  <<eyes,))  (( founts. 8     See  Note  58. 

147.  The  bubbles  are  drops  of  perspiration.     Moisture   on   the    face 
is  frequently  praised  by  Eastern  poets,  and  compared  to  dew. 

148.  The  comb  is  supposed  amorously  to  bite  the  ringlets. 

149.  In    Arabic,    shems,  (<  the    sun,8    is    feminine,    and    gamer,  (<the 
moon,8   masculine;    therefore,    in    Muslim    poetry,  the    greater   lumi- 
nary is  represented  as    a  female,  and    the  lesser  as    a  male,  as  is  the 
case  in  old  Teutonic  lore. 

150.  Silvery,  when  applied  to  the  human  frame,  means  delicate. 

151.  This    line    contains    a    very    ingenious    example    of   the    mihr 
equivoque  (121).     ((The  fillet,  being  in  thy  hair,  does  not  inclose  thy 
mihr   <(sun    (-like   face),8   but   the    chain,  hanging  round  thy  cheeks, 
does;  therefore,  I  am  not  like   the  former,  but    the  latter,  because  I, 
too,  inclose  thy  mt'Ar,  (<love8;  i.e.,  (<  love  for  thee  is  within  my  breast.8 

152.  Surma,  a  preparation  of  antimony  used  for  painting  the  edges 
of  the  eyelids. 

153.  The   comparison    of   the  eyebrow  to    a  bow,  and    the  glance  to 
the  arrow  or   shaft,  is  a   favorite.     Eastern    ladies   employ  powdered 
antimony  to    form  streaks   on    the    eyelids,  and  a  paste  of   indigo   to 
paint  the  eyebrows  with.     Perhaps   it  used   to  be  customary  to  make 
bows  of  poplar  branches.     FuzwU'  likens  the  lady's  indigo-stained  eye- 
brows to  bows  of  green  poplar;  this  may  be  an    instance  of  the  con- 
fusion of  the  colors  green  and  blue,  mentioned  in  Note  122. 

154.  The  tale    of   Leyl*  and    Mejm/n    is    perhaps    the    favorite  love- 
story  of  the  East.    As  the  names  of  the  hero  and  heroine  are  of  very 
frequent  occurrence  in  Turkish  Poetry,  I  give  here  an  outline  of  the 
romance.     Qays,  the   son  of   an  Arab  chief   of    Yemen,  falls   in    love 
with  a  maiden  of  another  clan  —  a  damsel  bright  as  the  moon,  grace- 
ful as  the  cypress,  with    locks    dark    as   the   night,  whence   her  name 
Leylt — i.e.,  (<  Nocturnal.8     His  passion  is  returned;  but  with  the  de- 
parture of  his  beloved's  tribe  to  the  distant  uplands  of  Nejd,  his  woes 
begin.     In  the  wild  hope  of  reaching  her  new  abode,  Qays  rushes  out 
into    the    desert,  where,  with  matted    locks   and    bosom    bare    to    the 
scorching    sun,  he  wanders    on,  making    tho   rocks  to   echo  with   his 
cries  of  ^Leyh'!8     In  v-un  his    friends    bring   him    back — he  always 
escapes,  and  flies    again    to   the  waste;    so,  seeing   that   his  reason  is 
shattered,  they  change    his   name  to  Mejn\\n  —  i.e.,  *  Bewitched.8    In 
the  course    of   his  wanderings    he   enters    the  land    of   a    chief   called 
Nevfel,  who  finds    the   wretched    lover    and,  hearing   his   story,  con- 
ceives a  warm  friendship'for  him,  and  resolves  to  aid  him.     So  Nevfel 
and  his  warriors   go   to   Leyh''s   father,  and    demand   the  maiden    for 
Mejnttn:  but  the  father  refuses.     Then  a  battle  takes  place,  in  which 
Nevfel  and  his  men  are  victorious ;  but  when  Leyh''s  father  comes  to 


270  NOTES 

offer  submission,  he  threatens  to  slay  the  maiden  before  their  eyes  if 
they  persist  in  their  demand.  They  therefore  retire,  and  Leyl/  is 
constrainedly  married  to  one  of  her  father's  friends.  After  a  time  a 
stranger  seeks  out  Mejn«n  in  the  desert,  and  tells  him  that  Ley!*'  is 
desirous  of  seeing  him.  At  once  the  true  lover  speeds  to  the  ap- 
pointed place;  but  when  Leyl*  learns  he  is  there,  her  sense  of  duty 
triumphs  over  the  passion  of  her  life,  and  she  resolves  to  forego  the 
dangerous  meeting;  and  Mejnwn,  disappointed,  returns  to  the  wilder- 
ness, where  the  wild  beasts  become  his  friends.  In  the  course  of 
time  Leylt's  husband  dies, 'and  Mejnwn  hastens  to  his  loved  one's  side. 
Overpowered  by  emotion,  both  are  for  a  space  silent ;  at  length  Leyl* 
addresses  Mejnwn  in  tender  accents,  but  when  he  finds  voice  to  reply, 
it  is  evident  that  the  reaction  has  extinguished  the  last  spark  of  rea- 
son. Mejnwn  is  now  a  hopeless  maniac,  and  he  rushes  from  the  arms 
of  Leyh'  and  seeks  the  desert  once  more.  Leyl*  never  recovers  the 
shock  occasioned  her  by  this  discovery.  She  pines  away,  and,  ere  she 
dies,  requests  her  mother  to  convey  to  Mejnwn  the  tidings  of  her 
death,  and  to  assure  him  of  her^constant,  unquenchable  love.  When 
lie  hears  of  her  death,  Mejnwn  seeks  her  tomb,  and,  exhausted  with 
his  journey  and  his  sorrow,  and  the  privations  he  had  so  long  en- 
dured, lays  himself  down  upon  the  turf  that  covers  her  remains,  and 
dies.  Zeyd,  an  attendant  who  had  always  befriended  Mejnwn,  comes 
to  watch  by  the  sepulchre  where  the  lovers  sleep ;  there  one  night  he 
sees  the  vision  which  forms  the  subject  of  the  last  extract  from 
Fuzwlt's  works. 

155.  There  is  an  untranslatable  equivoque  in  this  line  and  the  next; 
merdum  means  (<the  pupil    of    the  eye*  ;  merd  im,  «I    am  a  man  (a 
hero).*     Merdum,  or  merdumek,  means,  properly,  *  manikin,*  and  re- 
fers to  the  small  image  of  ourselves  that  we  see  reflected  in  the  pupil. 
It  is  these  (*'.  e.,  themselves)  that  Fuzuli  says  in  damsels  drink  blood 
—  but  the  blood  of  their  lovers  this  time. 

156.  There  is  a  proverb  to  this  effect. 

157.  ICimiya,  <(the    Philosopher's  Stone,*  that    imaginary  wondrous 
substance  which  transmutes  all  baser  metals  into  gold.     The  European 
appellation  of  stone  seems  to  be  a  fanciful  one,  as  it  does  not  appear 
from  the  writings  of  the  alchemists  that  the    great  arcanum  was  of  a 
lapideous  nature. 

158.  This  line  means:     <(I  looked  to  find  sincerity  (truthfulness)  in 
the  mirror,  but    even  there  I    only  saw  a    persecuted  swain  (my  own 
reflection).* 

159.  Subh-i  Sadiq,  <(the    True   Dawn,*  opposed    to    Subh-i    Kazib, 
<(the  False  Dawn,*  i.e.,  the  Zodiacal  Light,  a  transient  brightness  in 
the  horizon  about  an   hour  before    the    rise   of   the  true    dawn.     This 
phenomenon  is  frequently  mentioned  in  Eastern  literature,  where  it  ia 
sometimes   called  (<the  Wolf's  Tail.*    See   two  interesting   papers  by 


NOTES  271 

Mr.  Redhouse  in  the  Journal  of  the  Royal  Asiatic  Society,  Vols.  X. 
and  XII.  (New  Series). 

160.  The  gilm&n,  or  « native  youths  of  Paradise0;  the  kuris,  its  fairy 
maidens. 

161.  The  whole  of  this  long  and  beautiful  poem  of   Fazh"  has  been 
published  in  the  original,  along  with   a  German   translation,  by  Von 
Hammer.     That   learned    Orientalist   considered   it   one   of   the   finest 
productions  of  the  Ottoman  muse;  it  has  the  merit   of  originality,  so 
far  as  its  plot  is  concerned,  not   being,  like   most  Turkish   Mesnevis, 
copied  from  a  Persian  model.     The  story  is  an  elaboration  of  the  myth 
of  the  Nightingale's  love  for  the  Rose.     A  king   called  Spring  has  a 
beautiful  daughter,  Rose,  whom  he  appoints  Governor  of  Parterre,  one 
of   his    cities.     She,    vain   of   her   own    loveliness,  sends  her   courier, 
Zephyr,  to  search  the  world  and  see  if  she  have  any  peer  in  beauty. 
While  pursuing  his  quest  he  meets  with  Nightingale,  a  Prince  disguised 
as  a  beggar,  who  is  a  very  sweet  singer.     Him  he  tells  of  his  errand 
and  of  his  mistress's  beauty,  on  hearing  the  description  of  which  the 
Prince  falls  deeply  in  love  with  Rose.     They  proceed  together  to  the 
latter's   city,    but    the   Princess   refuses   to   receive   Nightingale,   who 
therefore  wanders  about  the  city  singing  his  woes.     Thorn,  a  lala,  or 
governor,  of  Rose,  hearing  how  a  miserable  beggar  is  going  about  the 
town  telling  all  men  that  he  is  the  Princess's  lover,  attacks  Nightingale, 
wounds  him  with  his  sword,  and  drives  him  out  of  the  city.     He  then 
goes  and  tells  King  Spring,  who  sends  some  guards  to  seize  the  Prince 
and  imprison  him  in  an  iron  cage.     Rose,  grieved  at  her  true  lover's 
misfortune,  goes  to  his  prison  and  consoles  him  by  telling  him  of  her 
love.     In  the  meantime  a  great  conqueror,  called  King  Summer,  has 
arisen  in  the   East;  he   declares  war  against  King  Spring,  and  sends 
his  army,  commanded  by  his  general,  Sun,  to  take  the  city  of  Parterre. 
The  invaders  are   completely   successful,  consuming  by   their  flaming 
artillery  all  who   venture  to   bar  their   road ;    and  King    Spring  seeks 
safety  in  flight.     After  grievously  oppressing  the  people,  King  Summer 
and  his  legions    take   their  departure.     King    Autumn,  in  the  North, 
hearing  that  the  fair  city  is  desolate,  determines  to  take  possession  of 
it.     At  first  his  rule  is  pleasing,  for  he  showers  much  gold  (withered 
leaves)  on  all  hands,  but  afterward  it  grows  harsh  and  severe.     In  the 
West  is  a  great,  terrible  Monarch,  King  Winter;  he  holds  council  with 
his  generals,    and  determines  to   expel  King   Autumn   from   Parterre. 
So  his  general,  Snow,   steals  quietly  into  the  city  one  night,  and  when 
the  inhabitants  waken  in  the  morning  they  find  the  town  in  the  pos- 
session of  his  forces.     Very  cruel  is  King  Winter;    so  severe  are  his 
laws  that  no  one  dares  leave  his  house.     When  King  Spring  had  been 
driven  from  his  city,  he  had  taken  refuge  in  the   South    with  a  kins- 
man, King  New-Year   (Note  214);    this  monarch    marshals  his  army, 
and,  accompanied  by  his  deposed  friend,  sets  out  to  reinstate  him  in 
his  kingdom.     King  Winter  is  driven  from  the  land,  and  the  rightful 
monarch  restored  to  the  throne.     All   the  people    are   delighted,  and, 


272  NOTES 

amid  general  rejoicings,  Rose  and  Nightingale  are  married.  —  This 
story,  like  all  others  of  its  kind,  is  an  allegory:  the  city  of  Parterre 
represents  the  body;  Rose,  the  soul;  Nightingale,  the  heart;  King 
Spring,  the  understanding;  King  Summer,  anger,  which  drives  away 
the  understanding;  King  Autumn,  lust,  which  paves  the  way  for 
King  Winter,  disease;  King  New- Year  is  the  grace  of  God.  The 
story  in  detail  is  a  very  pretty  one,  and  the  language  in  which  it  is 
told  appropriate  and  graceful. 

162.  Rum,  Asia  Minor.     See  Note  64. 

163.  The  lily's  leaf,  on  account  of  its  shape,  is  often  compared  to  a 
sword.     See  Mes»h/'s  Murebba',  stanza  4. 

164.  Alluding  to  the  idea  that  the  thorn  transfixes  the  Nightingale 
when  that  bird  tries   to  get  near   its  beloved    Rose :   the  same  notion 
is  referred   to  in    the  story   told  in    Note  161,    where    Thorn    wounds 
Nightingale  with  his  sword. 

165.  The  uskuf  was  a  pointed  felt  cap  worn  by  the  Janissaries  and 
dervishes.     The  earlier  Sultans  used  it  covered  with  gold  embroidery, 
as  their  regal  head-dress.     Under  Muhammed  II.  it  was  appropriated 
to  the  officers  of  the  Janissaries,  and  later,  with  certain  modifications, 
to  the  Agas  of  the  Seraglio.     The  cap  called  altin-uskuf,  or  sir  malt' 
uskuf,  was  the  same  decorated  with  a  gilt  band  (yuklun),  which  hung 
down  across  it  in  front.     The  uskuf  has  entirely  disappeared  since  the 
destruction  of  the  Janissaries,  in  1826.     See  M.  Barbier  de  Meynard's 
Dictionnaire   Turc-Franqais. 

166.  A  mole  on  the  face  is  considered  as  a  great  beauty  in  the  East, 
just   as   it    used    to   be    in    England,  when  ladies    represented  it  by  a 
black  patch.     It  is  frequently    compared    to  a  grain   of   musk,  which 
is  of  a  dark  color. 

167.  The  Oriental  letter  Nun  ^N,*  is  represented  by  a  curve. 

168.  Joseph,    as    already    said    (Note   95),   is    the   type  of   youthful 
beauty ;  the  «  well  »  is  an  allusion  to  the  pit  into  which  he  was  lowered 
by  his  brethren. 

169.  That  is,  red— blood.     See  Note  77. 

170.  This    qasida,    by  the    greatest  of    Ottoman    poets,    in  praise  ot 
Sultan  Suleyman  I.,  is  here  translated  in  its  entirety. 

171.  The  Sun  is  described  as  a  tambourinist,  referring  to  its  form, 
round,  like  a  tambourine;  it  is  usually  a  sovereign  (Note  84);  for  its 
sex  when  personified  see  Note  149. 

172.  Saturn    is    often    spoken    of    as    the    Elephant-driver    of    the 
Heavens. 

173.  See  Note  125.     Referring,  of  course,  both  to  Solomon  and  the 
Sultan. 


NOTES  273 

174.  Keyani    connected    with  the    Keyan;,    or   Median,  dynasty    of 
Persia;    here    meaning    simply,  « Imperial.* — Khusrevani,    connected 
with   the    Khusrevs,    or    Kings,  of   the    Sasan*    (Sassanian)  House,  is 
used  in  the  same  way. 

175.  The  rich  merchant,  Autumn,  scatters  gold  (yellow  leaves)  pro- 
fusely on  each  hand ;  yet  even  he  stands  in  need  of  the  Sultan's  bounty. 

176.  Key-Qubad    (Dejoces),    the    founder   of    the    Keyan*    dynasty. 
For  his  adventures  see  Atkinson's  Shah-Nama. 

177.  Qahraman  is  a  legendary  hero  who  was  solicited  by  the  Kings 
of   the    Fairies    to  aid  them  in  repelling  the  Demons,  who  were  con- 
stantly making  war  upon  their  subjects.     He  complied,  and  met  with 
many  strange  adventures,  which  are  related  in  the  Qahraman- Nama. 

178.  This  extravagant  idea  of   the   Sphere  revolving  through  being 
struck   by    the    Sultan's    mall-bat   is   paralleled    by  the   following  pas- 
sage in  Hafiz :  — 

*  My  King's-dragoon,  my  sweet  one,  what  doll  shows  half  thy  graces ! 
Urged  by  thy  whip,  the  steed-like  Sphere  its  rapid  circle  traces."* 

This  is  Husn-i  Ta'Zil  (Note  46). 

179.  SAamiyan,  (<  Shamis,*  means  alike  <(  Syrians  *  and  <(  darknesses 
of  evening.8     Thus  the  night-black  locks  are  compared  to  Syrian,  or 
evening,  dancers,  who   have    tucked    up    their    skirts    for   a   dance   to 
Hijaz  in  Arabia,  or  to  the  musical  mode  so  called  (Note  85). 

180.  Sujud  is  that  position  in  canonical  worship  in  which  the  fore- 
head   touches   the    ground ;    qt'yam,  that  in  which  one  stands  upright. 
See  Lane's  <(  Modern  Egyptians,*  pp.  76,  77.     This  is  another  example 
of  the  figure  Husn-i  Ta'lil  (46) ;  the  rose  and  jasmine  bend,  of  course, 
when  the  wind  blows,  but  here  they  are  said    to   do   so    in    adoration 
of   the    cheek   so    much   fairer   than   they;    and  the  cypress,  naturally 
erect,  is  said  to  stand  up  to  worship  the  figure  more  elegant  than  itself. 

181.  «-BE!»   and  it  is.      Qur'an,  ii.,   3,  etc.     KUN  !  «BE!»  was 
God's  fiat  to  creation.      The   hall,    ^BE!   and   it   is,"  simply   means 
the  Universe. 

182.  Irem,    the    terrestrial    paradise,    planted    ages    ago    by     King 
Sheddad,  and    now   sunk    somewhere    in   the   deserts  of  Arabia.     The 
mead    here    means   the   world  of  Islam;  the    nightingales  in  the  next 
line  are  poets.      During   Suleyman's    reign   Ottoman    Poetry    reached 
its  highest  point. 

183.  Doubtless  some   allusion    lurks   in   this   couplet;  perhaps  Baqi 
prays  that  the  Sultan  may  live   to   be   an   old   man,    till    (<the   world- 
illuming  sun,*  his  face,  display  (<  a  silver  candelabrum,*  a  white  beard. 

184.  The  slaty  night-sky  studded  with  stars  is  sometimes  compared 
to  steel  inlaid  with   gold. 

*Bicknell's  ff&Jle  of  Shiraz,  page   42. 
18 


274  NOTES 

185.  This  assonant  is  in  imitation  of  the  original. 

186.  Baq*  here  compares   the    elegant   figure   of  his  mistress  to  his 
own  graceful  poetry ;  her  thin  waist  resembles  one  of  the  subtle  allu- 
sions in  his  verses — i.  e.,  it  is  so  fine,  one  can  hardly  see  it! 

187.  The  Lote-tree   of   Paradise,  that   stands    on   the  right  hand  of 
the  Throne  of  God,  and  beyond  which  not  even  the  angels  may  pass. 
For  the  T«ba-tree  see  Note  28.     Moore  mentions  these  two  heavenly 
trees  in  «Lalla  Rookh  »  (Lula-Rukk,  «  Tulip-Cheek  »):  — 

«  Farewell,  ye  odors  of  earth  that  die, 
Passing  away  like  a  lover's  sigh ;  — 
My  feast  is  now  of  the  Tuba-tree, 
Whose  scent  is  the  breath  of  Eternity. 

Farewell,  ye  vanishing  flowers  that  shone 

In  my  fairy  wreath,  so  bright  and  brief ; 
O  what  are  the  fairest  that  e'er  have  blown, 
To  the  lyOte-tree  springing  by  Allah's  throne, 
Whose  flowers  have  a  soul  in  every  leaf ! » 

188.  By  the  usual  figure  (Note   92),  he    likens    the   wound    on   his 
breast  to  a  flower  —  the  rosebud;    the   shaft  (her  glance),  that  caused 
it,  is  compared  to  a  leaf  curled  up  in  the  bud. 

189.  The  wonderful  cures  and  resuscitations  wrought  by  Jesus,  who 
is  the  type  of  a  skillful  and  benign  physician,  are  as  celebrated  among 
Muslims  as  among    Christians.     His    healing    power   is   said    to    have 
been  in  the  breath. 

190.  A  beautiful  girl  is  called  kafir,  (( infidel,®  because  of  her  cruelty. 

191.  The  legend  runs:  After  the  Creation  God  assembled  the  souls 
of  all  who  were  to  dwell  upon  the   earth,  and  to  each  separately  put 
the    question:    A-Lestu    bi-Rabbikumf    <(  Am    I    not  your   Lord?*   to 
which    each    made   reply :    £ela,  <(  Yea.8     He   had   previously  put  the 
same  question  to  the  earth,  the  sky,  and  the  mountains ;  but  none  of 
these  dared  take  the  responsibility  of  answering  (<  Yea.®*     The  remem- 
brance  of   this   primeval    vow   is   said   by   the   S«f/s  and  dervishes  to 
exercise  an  all-engrossing  power  over  the  souls  of  the  initiated. 

192.  The  eye  is  the  hope;  the  word  in  the  next  line,  translated  air, 
means  also  longing.  In  this  couplet,  by  mentioning  the  four  ele- 
ments, Baq»  introduces  that  figure  of  speech  called  by  Oriental  rhe- 
toricians Mutaz&dd,  <(  contrariety.®  In  Mr.  Bicknell's  translation  of 
Hafiz  occurs  this  example  :  — 

«  My  heart  and  soul  oft  fly  to  love  as  earth  in  air  away  ; 
At  times  with  water,  as  a  duck,  I  passion's  fire  allay." 

Eb«-'l-Feraj-i  Rumi  has  the  following,  quoted  by  Mr.  Bicknell :  — 

*  Air  art  Thou,  entering  my  frame  as  breath  ; 
Fire  art  Thou,  burning  hearts  with  love  till  death; 
Water  art  Thou,  by  which  all  creatures  grow  ; 
Earth  also  art  Thou,  to  which  all  must  go.» 

•  Qur'an,  vii.,  171. 


NOTES 


275 


Mr.    Whinfield's    translation    of   the    quatrains    of    'Omer    Khayyam 
yields  yet  another  instance  :  — 

•  Man's  seed  is  water  from  the  void  sea-spray  ; 
And  on  his  heart  grief's  fire  doth  ever  prey ; 

And  blown  is  he  like  wind  about  the  world; 
And  last  his  crumbling  earth  is  swept  away.* 

193.  This  couplet  contains  several  allusions  to  the  Game   of   Chess. 
The  word  rukh  means  both  « cheek w  and  « castle  *  (KRook^);  at  the 
« steed »    is    the   « Knight »;  thus    King,    Queen,  Castle,  Knight,  and 
Pawn  are  all  mentioned. 

194.  The  streams,  turbid  with  heavy   rains,    are    said  to   offer   gold 
(their    yellow    water)    to    the    trees    that    grow    upon  their  banks,  as 
though  they  were  wishing  to  bribe  these. 

195.  A  pretty  girl  is  often   styled    a    Torment,    a     Torment    of  the 
Soul,  or  a    Torment  of  the    World. 

196.  According   to    Von    Hammer,  this  Elegy  is  the  most  beautiful 
poem  in  the  whole  range  of  Ottoman  literature.     The  first  strophe  is 
addressed  to  the  reader. 

197.  The  Persians  throw  aside  the  lees  after  drinking  a  cup  of  wine. 

198.  A    pebble    thrown    into    a    beaker   is  the  signal  for  a  party  to 
break  up.     See  Note  215. 

199.  Rakkush,  (<  Lightning  »  (the  word  translated  here  by  (< charger8), 
was  the  name  of  Rustem's  famous  steed.     Rustem  is  the  national  hero 
of  Persia,  the  Hercules  or  'Antar    of    Iran ;    a    great    portion    of    the 
Sha.h-Na.ma  is  taken  up  with   his    wondrous    adventures   and    glorious 
victories  over  his  country's  enemies,  both  human  and  demon. 

200.  D«ra  is  Darius,  the  last  monarch  of  the  Keyani  dynasty. 

201.  Alluding  to  the  bent,    or  curved,   appearance   of    the   vault   of 
heaven. 

202.  A  beautiful  example  of  the  Husn-i   Ta'Zil  (Note  46)  ;  the  tears 
that    fill  the  eyes    when    one   attempts  to  look  upon  the  sun  are  here 
ascribed  to  sorrow  for  the  loss  of  the   Sultan,    whose   glorious   visage 
the  splendor  of  that  luminary  recalls  to  mind. 

203.  The  hums,  is  a  fabulous   bird  often   mentioned    in    Eastern  po- 
etry.    It  is  of    the   happiest   augury;    every  head  that  it  overshadows 
will  one  day  wear  a  crown.     Another  of  its  good  traits  is  that  it  lives 
entirely  upon  bones,  never  hurting  any  living  creature. 

204.  Their  rills. 

205.  The  petal  of  a  ro>e  is  in  shape  somewhat  like  the  human  ear. 

206.  The  strophes,  consisting  of  seven  rhyming  couplets  each.     The 
meaning  of  the  second  last  of   these    in    this    stanza  is :    (<  Should   our 
eyes    shed    so    many   tears    that   the  whole  earth  was  turned  by  them 


276  NOTES 

into  an  ocean,  still  even  in  so  vast  a  sea  there  would  be  no  chance  of 
the  production  of  a  pearl  that  could  vie  with  thee.* 

207.  It  will  be  remembered    that    Sultan    Suleyman   I.   died    in    his 
camp  before  Szigeth  in  Hungary. 

208.  The  Sun. 

209.  Tears    are    sometimes    compared    to  babes,  being  sprung  from 
man;  perhaps  from  merdumek,  (<the  manikin w  of  the  eye  (Note  155). 
Here  those  babes  are  to  die  and  be  buried;    i.e. ,  the  unsympathizing 
man  is  to  have  cause  to  saturate  the  ground  with  his  bitter  tears. 

210.  G&zi  ve  Shekid,    <(  Muslim    conqueror    and    martyr ;  *  both   are 
alike  pleasing  to  God ;  whoever  dies  in  battle,  or  in  the  field,  against 
the  infidels  is  crowned  with  martyrdom ;  while  the  conqueror   will  be 
rewarded   for   his    labors  in  the  Next  World.     Prince  Cantemir  says  : 
<(The  Turks  are  persuaded  that  he  (Suleyman)  was   a    great   favorite 
of  heaven,  because  he  not  only  lost   his    life  at   the  siege  of  Szigeth, 
and  so  became  Shekid  (martyr),  but  was  also  Gazi,  two    cities   being 
taken  under  the  command  of  his  relics,  and  annexed  to  the   Ottoman 
Empire.9 

211.  This  strophe  is  in  honor  of    Sultan    Sel/m  II.,  Suleyman's  son 
and  successor.     The  third  line  of  this  verse    is  incorrect,  it  ought   to 

be:  — 

The  old  Vezir  hath  passed  away  from  th'Egypt  of  the  world ; 

the  allusion  is  to  Zuleykha's  first  husband  (95),  the  Grand  Vezt'r  of 
Egypt  ({Aziz-i  Misr) :  Suleyman  is  of  course  meant,  Seh'm  being 
Joseph.  In  the  next  couplet  the  dawning  represents  Suleyman  and 
the  Sun,  Sel*m ;  and  so  on  throughout  the  stanza. 

212.  Behram    (Varanes    V.),    fourteenth    monarch    of    the    Sasam 
dynasty  of  Persia,  is  chiefly  remarkable  for  his  love  of  the  chase.     He 
was  particularly  fond  of  hunting  the  gur,  or  wild-ass,  on  which  account 
he  is  often   called    Behram-i    G«r,  (<  Behram  of    the  Wild-Ass. w     This 
passion  eventually  cost  him  his  life,  for  while  pursuing  one  of   these 
creatures,  his  horse  plunged  with  him  into  a  deep  morass,  and  he  was 
seen  no  more.     Gur  means  <(  tomb,*  in  Persian,  as  well  as  <(  wild-ass,* 
thus  giving   an   opportunity  for  an  excellent  equivoque,  of  which  the 
poets  are  not   slow  to   avail   themselves;    thus  Baqz'  says  here:  (<This 
chase  (life)  hath  at   length   caused   the    Behram    of    the    age    (Sultan 
Suleyman)  to  reach  the  gur  (the  tomb  and  the  wild-ass).* 

Erdeshj'r  is  the  Persian  name  that  is  corrupted  into  Artaxerxes 
and  Ahasuerus.  The  Ahasuerus  of  the  Book  of  Esther  was  not,  how- 
ever, a  Sasant ,  but  a  Keyan*  monarch :  perhaps  Erdesh*r-i  Diraz- 
Dest  (Artaxerxes  Longimanus),  sixth  sovereign  of  that  race;  but  this 
is  by  no  means  certain.  Behram  here  represents  Suleyman;  Erdesh/r, 
Seh'm. 

213.  The  Peacock  plays  a  conspicuous    part   in    the    story  of    Eden 
and  Adam  and  Eve;  before  the  Fall  he  was   the   most  beautiful  bird 


NOTES  277 

in  Paradise,  his  plumage  shone  like  pearl  and  emerald,  and  his  voice 
was  so  melodious  that  he  was  appointed  to  sing  the  praises  of  God 
daily  in  the  streets  of  heaven. 

214.  Nev-Ruz,  « the  New  Day,*  the  first  day  of  the  new  year  with 
the  ancient  Persians,  is  the  «New  Year's  Day  »  of  the  Muslim    poets. 
It  is  the  day  when  the  Sun  enters  Aries. 

215.  Death,  as  succeeding  life,  is  sometimes   compared   to   the   end 
of  a  banquet,  when  the  guests  are  gone  and  the  lights  put  out. 

216.  According  to  Brown's  (<  Dervishes,*  the  Qalenden  Order  of  Der- 
vishes   was    founded    by    Y«suf-i    Endelws/    (Ywsuf    of   Andalusia,   in 
Spain),  a  contemporary  of  Hajt  Bektash.     They  are  under  the  obliga- 
tion of  perpetually  traveling  about,    and  are  compelled  to  live  wholly 
upon  alms.     A  wandering  dervish  of  any  order  is,  by  extension,  called 
a  Qalender.    The  members  of  the  real    Qalender/   Order   shave   their 
beards  and  eyebrows. 

217.  Iflatan  (Plato)  is  a  type  of  wisdom. 

218.  Or :  *  Flood  the  world  with  thy  splendor,  and  still  remain  with- 
out ostentation.*     When  the  Sun   sinks   it   seems   to    rub    its   face   in 
the  dust. 

219.  This  poem  with  the  following,  its  reply,  forms,  perhaps,  the  only 
instance   of    a  war-correspondence    conducted   in  gazels.     The  Grand 
Vez/r  Hafiz  Pasha,  having  failed  to  recover  Bagdad  from  the  Persians, 
sent  this  gazel,  begging  for  reinforcements,  to  his  master,  Murad  IV., 
at  Stamboul. 

220.  Here  again  we  have  the  equivoques  on  rukk,  meaning  at  once 
the  «Rook)>  at  Chess,  and    the   «  Cheek,*  thus    rukh-be-rukk    is   both 
«Rook   to    Rook»  and  «Face  to  Face»;  and  on  at  for  the  « Knight » 
and  the  <(  Horse*  (193).      The   allusions    to   Chess    in   these   lines,  as 
well  as  those  near  the  beginning  of  the  Padishah's  rejoinder,  remind 
us  of    the  famous    letter  of   Nicepherus    to    Har«nu-'r-Resh«'d,   which 
called    forth    from    that    Khah'fa   his  yet    more    famous    reply.      The 
Queen    presents    a    difficulty   in    these    Turkish    poems :   to   make   an 
Oriental  talk  of  a  queen,  not  only  as   taking  part  in  a  battle  (for  the 
chess-board  represents  a   battle-field,  but  as  being  the   strongest  com- 
batant, is  absurd.     The    piece  which   we   in    the    West    misname   the 
(<  Queen »  is  in  the  East  called  Ferz  or  Ferz'in,  a  Persian  word  mean- 
ing *  counselor*  or  <(  minister*  —  a    much   more   appropriate   title,  in 
fact  the  correct   one,  for '  Chess   is   an    Oriental    game.     Some   derive 
our  Queen  from  the  Eastern  Fcrz,  through  the  following  corruptions 
and  translations:  Chess,  it  is  contended,  was  introduced  by  the  Arabs 
into  Spain  and   France ;    the   French,  on   learning   the  game,  adopted 
some  of  the  Oriental  terms  and  translated  others ;  of   the  former  was 
the  Ferz,  written  in   old  French    books   Fierce;  this   in   time  became 
Vierge,  thence   Dame,  Queen.     Till    the   fifteenth   century  this    piece 
was,  both  in  Asia  and  Europe,  one  of  the  weakest  on  the  board,  being 


2/8  NOTES 

allowed  to  move  diagonally  only,  and  but  one  square  at  a  time.  It 
is  clear,  however,  that  long  before  these  two  poems  were  written, 
the  Ferz  had  attained,  if  not  the  entire  power  it  now  possesses,  at 
least  a  greatly  extended  range,  for  Seh'm  I.  (who  died  in  1520)  speaks 
of  it  as  though  it  were  a  very  strong  piece. 

221.  The  Rafiz/s  are  the  Sht'/s,  the  adherents  of  the  heretical  sect 
of  Islam  that  holds  in  Persia. 

222.  Eb«-Ham'fa,  founder  of  that  one  of  the  four  great  sects  of 
orthodox  Islam  to  which  the  Turks  belong,  lies  buried  in  Bagdad. 

223.  A  Lugaz,  as  stated  in  the  Introduction  (Sec.  II),  is  an 
tt  enigma,*  in  which  the  essence  of  a  thing  (not  the  letters  of  its 
name,  as  is  the  case  in  a  Mu'amma)  forms  the  subject  of  the  riddle. 
Enderwn/  Khaz/neli  Jihad*  Beg,  one  of  Sultan  Murad's  courtiers,  gave 
the  following  solution  to  this  puzzle:  — 

My  King,  a  lamp's  the  castle ;  the  oil  therein,  the  main ; 
The  wick  is  yonder  fish  too  that  there  its  home  hath  ta'en ; 
The  flame's  the  shining  jewel  it  holdeth  in  its  mouth, 
That  burns  the  fish  as  long  as  it  therein  doth  remain. 
Thou  promisedst,  O  Monarch,  the  solver  to  reward: 
A  fief  Jihad*  seeketh  and  sergeantship  to  gain. 

224.  These  verses  of  'Aztzt,  which    posses    no    beauty,  are    inserted 
merely  to  serve  as  an  example  of  that  style  of  poem  known  as  skehr- 
engiz,  <(  city-disturbing.*      As  mentioned  in  the  Second  Section  of  the 
Introduction,  the  subject  of  these  compositions  is  the  description  of  cer- 
tain persons  who,  through  their  beauty,  are  supposed  to  disturb  the  town. 
The  ladies  in  whose  honor  these  verses  were  written  were,  no  doubt, 
the  Phrynes  and  Laises  of  seventeenth-century  Stamboul.    Some,  at  least, 
of  the  names  appear  to  be  sobriquets.     The  only  literary  merit  which 
the  lines  possess  consists  in  equivoques  on  the  names  of  the  courtezans 
described ;  these  I  have  indicated  by  translating  the  names  and  print- 
ing in  italics  the  supposed  bon-mots.      The  verses  here  translated  are 
selected    from    a    number   cited    in    the  fifth  volume  of  the  Mines  de 
P  Orient. 

225.  Merjan  Du'asi,  (< Coral  Prayer*;  I  do  not  know  what  this  is; 
I  never  saw  the  expression  anywhere  else,  nor  is  it  given  in  the  dic- 
tionaries.     Von    Hammer    says    in    a    note :    (<  Ein    beruhmtes  Gebeth 
von  Rubinengraber?  and  that  is  all  I  have  been  able  to  learn. 

226.  Literally:  qatad,  <(the  tragacanth*  or  (<goatsthorn.w 

227.  This  poem  is  called  a  Munajat,  a  (<  Prayer*;  a  number  of  such 
are  usually  found  in  a  Diivan  after  the  verses  in   praise  of   God   and 
the  Prophet. 

228.  Manuscript   copies    of    the    Sha.h-Na.ma   are    usually   decorated 
with  miniatures,  representing  the  progress  of  the  history. 

229.  <(  Lights  Twain*  are  the  Sun  and  Moon:   the   world   is   like   a 
mirror,  where  the  influences  of  the  planets  are  reflected. 


NOTES  279 

230.  «We    have    indeed   created    man    in   the    best    of    symmetry." 
(Qur'an  xcv.,  4.) 

231.  Literally:  «  Founded  on  the  product  of  vileness  is  Thy  Glory  :» 
sin  is  vile;  man  is  vile;  Thou  forgivest;  thence  Thy  Glory. 

232.  Helaga,  the  grandson    of   Jengj'z    Khan,  leveled    the   beautiful 
city    of    Bagdad   with   the   ground,  and    ruthlessly   massacred   its    in- 
habitants. 

233.  The  fes    is   the    red    cap   of   the   Turks;    it   is  commonly,  but 
erroneously,  written   and    pronounced  fez   in  Europe:    the  j  is  sharp 
like  jj  in  our  word  (<  fosse.® 

234.  That  is,  the   Bridge  of   Sirat,   « narrower  than  a  hair,   sharper 
than  a  razor, »    that   leads    to    Paradise,   spanning   the  Abyss  of  Hell. 
Across  this,  they  say,  must  all  pass  to  the  Abode  of  Bliss. 

235.  Hayder,  (<the  Lion,8  is  a  surname  of    'Ah',  the  Prophet's  son- 
in-law;  Duldul  was  the  name  of  his  celebrated  mule. 

236.  Referring    to  the    rapid,  vibrating  motion  peculiar  to    Eastern 
dancing. 

237.  A  beautiful  girl  is  sometimes  styled  «an  Idol.® 

238.  The  needle  formerly  used  in  Turkey  and  other  Eastern   coun- 
tries  for   blinding   state    prisoners  is  here  referred  to.     The  meaning 
of  this  distich  is:  <(My  verses  are  so  obscure  and  involved  that  to  the 
uneducated  they  are  enemies  to  clear  perception  (/'.  e.,  they  are  incom- 
prehensible), just  as  the  blinding-needle  is  the  enemy  to  clear  sight, 
as  know  the  blinded.® 

239.  Referring    to   the   shape   of    the  head-dress,   modeled  after  the 
tiara  of   the   ancient    Kings    of    Persia,  introduced    by    Seh'm  I.,  and 
worn,  with  certain  modifications,  by  all  his  successors  till  changed  by 
Muhammed  IV.      This    head-dress,  which   was    worn   by    the    Sultan 
alone,  if  turned  upside  down,  would  somewhat  resemble  in  shape  the 
alms-bowl   carried    by   beggars  in   Turkey.      The    form    of   the   royal 
tiara    may   be    seen   in    the    portraits    of  Seh'm  I.,    Suleynum  I.,    and 
Murad  IV. 

240.  Her  hair-slim  waist  is  so  slight  that  it  is  said  by  hyperbole  to 
exist  not ;  if  it  exists  not,  of  course  it  cannot  be  embraced ;  thus  the 
truthfulness  of  the  rival's  boast  is  itself  as  slender  as  a  hair. 

241.  Nimrod,  by  his.  cruel  persecution  of  Abraham,   and    arrogant 
insolence    in    building   the    Tower   of   Babel,  to  wage  war  with  God, 
drew  upon  himself  the  Divine  wrath.     To  punish  his  pride  the  Lord 
chose  the  meanest  of  His  creatures,  the  gnat,  as  the  instrument  of  His 
vengeance.     A  vast  army  of  these  insects  was  sent  against  the  tyrant's 
men,  whom  they  compelled  to  flee,  for  they  consumed  their  flesh,  and 
picked  their  eyes  out  of  their  heads.     Nimrod  himself  fled  to  a  thick- 
walled  tower,  but  a  gnat  entered  with  him  and  worked  its  way  through 


28o  NOTES 

his  nostril  iato  his  brain,  which  it  commenced  to  devour.  The  pain 
it  caused  was  so  great  that  Nimrod  could  find  no  relief  save  by 
dashing  his  head  against  the  wall,  or  getting  some  one  to  strike  his 
forehead  with  a  hammer.  But  the  gnat  grew  continually  larger  till, 
on  the  fortieth  day  after  its  entrance,  Nimrod' s  head  burst  open,  and 
the  insect,  which  had  attained  the  size  of  a  pigeon,  flew  out. 

242.  Sami  here  compares  the  eight  beyts,  or  distichs,  of  his  gazel, 
blooming  with  flowers  of  rhetoric,  to  the  Eight  Mansions  of  Paradise. 
(Note  28.) 

243.  What  we  call  to  (<  smoke*  tobacco  is  expressed  in  Turkish,  as 
it  was  formerly  in  England,  by  to  ^drink*  tobacco.     The  nargila,  or 
bowl  of  the    water-pipe  (commonly    called  hookah  in    English)  repre- 
sents   the    beaker;    the     lula,  or    little   red    clay  bowl,    of   the    long 
ehibuq  is  called   a  sumbul,  or  hyacinth;   this    must   refer   to   the  curl- 
ing smoke-wreaths  ascending   from  the  lula. 

244.  Edirna  is    the  Turkish    name    of  Adrianople ;   apparently  the 
lady  dwelt   in  Istambol    (Constantinople),    for   the    meaning    of  these 
lines  is :  (<  The  inhabitants  of  Adrianople,  when  turning  to  the  Ka'ba 
at   Mekka  [in   worship,    bow   toward   Constantinople,    which,    like  the 
Sacred  City,    lies  to  the  south.* 

245.  In  Persia  wine   was  formerly  chiefly   sold  by  Magians ;   hence 
the  word  Magian   is  used  in    poetry  to    signify    a  vintner  or    tavern- 
keeper;  but  mystically,    a  learned   and    holy  teacher. 

246.  Daru-'s-Sefam,    (<  The     home    of    Peace,*    is   the  sobriquet  of 
Bagdad    and    Damascus;     here     the     latter    is    meant,    Sham    being 
<(  Syria  ;*  Sham  means  a  <(  mole *  in  Arabic,  which    gives   an  untrans- 
latable   equivoque   in    the    line.      Der-i    Sa'adet,    <(The    Gate    of   Fe- 
licity,*  is  the  style  of  Constantinople. 

247.  The  original    of  this  Gazel,   written   most   ingeniously   in   the 
shape  of  a   sort  of  wheel,  forms  the  Frontispiece    of  the  present  vol- 
ume.    It  appeared  in  the  <(  Journal  *  of  the  Royal  Asiatic  Society  (vol. 
xviii.,  1861),  accompanied  by  a    prose  translation,  and    an   interesting 
account  of  the  poet  and  his  family,  from  the   pen  of   Mr.    Redhouse. 
It   is   to   this   article  that    I    am    indebted  for   the   particulars   in  my 
notice   of  the  author. 

248.  The   reed  of  which  the  flute  is  made  has  to  be  pierced  before 
it  gives  forth  sound. 

249.  (<As  the  sun  draws  up  the   dew-drops  so  doth  thy  bright  face 
draw  forth  my  tears.* 

250.  Queen    Humay   was   a    Persian    sovereign    of   the  Keyam    dy- 
nasty; her  reign  is  detailed  in  the  Sha.k-Na.ma. 

251.  <(If    the   caviller   questioned    the  beauty    of  thy  face   like   the 
sun,  the  sight  of    thy  lover  hovering  like  a  mote  in  its  beams  ought 
to  convince  him.* 


NOTES  281 

252.  Husn  u  'Ishq,   <(  Beauty  and  Love,*  is  an  allegorical  romance 
of  the  nature  of  Fazl/'s    Gul  u  Bulbul.     Love,  the  hero,   becomes  en- 
amored  of    Beauty,   the   heroine;    the  elders    of   the   tribe,    however, 
demand   as   her   dowry  the    Philosopher's  Stone,   which   can   only   be 
found    in    the   City    called    Heart.      The    road    thither  is    known    to 
abound  with  fearful   perils,  and  to   be  haunted    by  gwls   and  demons. 
Love,   nothing  daunted,    sets  forth  accompanied   by   a    friend,   Zeal  ; 
and  their  adventures    form    the   subject   of    the   greater    part    of    the 
poem.     They   pass     through    a    dreary    wilderness,    where   they    en- 
counter  all  manner  of   evil  spirits,    then    through   a   waste   of  snow, 
where   utter   darkness   reigns,    then   across   a   sea   of   fire,   and   so   on 
through   many   terrors   till   Love    at   length  reaches   the  City   of   the 
Heart,   where  he   finds    Beauty  awaiting    him.     The    first    extract  is 
the   lullaby   which   Love's  nurse  sings    over    his   cradle ;  the   second, 
a    song  called  forth   by   the    recollection   of    past  happiness,  that    the 
hero  sings  on  reaching  a  beautiful  country  after  crossing  the  sea  of  fire. 

253.  It  is   common    in   Eastern    gardens    to   plant  cypresses  near 
the  edge   of   a  stream. 

254.  The  headings  of  chapters,   etc.,  in  Oriental  MSS.  are  usually 
written    in    red   ink;  so  a   page   shows    the    colors   black    and  red  on 
white  paper. 

255.  Rengin,  (<  colored,*  is  the  Easten  equivalent  to  our  <(  flowery,9 
applied  to  poetry. 

256.  In  the  Zena.n-Nama,  <(  Book  of  Women,*  Fazil  Beg  passes  in 
review    the    women    of    the  principal    nations    of   Asia,    Europe,    and 
North  Africa,   praising  what  he   conceives  to  be    their  good  qualities 
both  of  mind  and  body,   and   criticising  what  he  fancies   to  be    their 
defects.     The  author  displays  considerable  ingenuity,  not  only  in  the 
equivoques  which    abound  in  his   work,  but  in    his  satirical   allusions 
to  the  peculiarities   of  the    different    races ;  he,  however,  occasionally 
commits  himself   to   remarks    that   would    be   offensive    to   European 
taste. 

257.  This  is  in    feeble  imitation    of  an   equivoque    in   the  original; 
the  black   heart   of  the  tulip  is  likened  to  a  burn. 

258.  P&k-d&men,     <(pure  of    skirt,*    is    a   favorite    expression     for 
<(  virtuous.* 

259.  Rum,    as    already     said    (64),   this    word    is    «  Roman,*    not 
(< Greek;*  I  retain  the  Word  <(  Greek*   in   the  translation,  not  because 
it  is  correct,   but  because  it   is  the    term   in  common   use  in   Europe. 
Concerning   the  mongrel  race,   dignified  in   the  West    with  the  name 
of   w Greek,*   but   called   Rum,    JRumi,    or    Urum    in    the  Levant   and 
throughout  Asia   and  North  Africa,  Mr.   Redhouse   says :  <(  Their  local 
name,    now,  as  ever   since  the   Christian  era,  is   Rum,  ( Roman,'  not 
<Greek.)    This  remark  applies  to  all  the  so-called  ( Greek  *  population  of 
Turkey,  in  Europe  as  in  Asia .     From  the  time  of  the  Roman  conquest 


282  NOTES 

they,  natives  and  intruders,  all  learned  to  call  themselves  Romans. 
There  is  really  very  little,  if  any,  properly  Greek-descended  population 
in  Turkey,  or  out  of  it.  The  race,  never  numerous,  was  killed  out  or 
dispersed  and  lost  long  ago,  though  a  remnant  of  the  old  Greek  language 
survives  locally  as  a  colloquial  patois  round  the  coasts  and  here  and 
there  in  the  interior.  This  has  latterly  been  dressed  up  anew  to  serve 
as  a  written  tongue  in  commerce  and  literature.  The  common  name  of 
Rum,  the  use  of  the  Roman-Frankish  Greek  patois,  and  the  liturgy 
of  the  Eastern  Church,  are  the  links  that  unite  a  very  heterogeneous 
lower  Roman  mass  of  three  or  four  millions,  when  all  told,  in  the 
Hellenic  Kingdom,  in  Turkey,  and  scattered  elsewhere,  which  Europe 
has  been  led  to  call  <  Greeks  !  >  »*  In  another  place  writes  the  same  dis- 
tinguished scholar :  <(  After  the  conversion  of  Constantine  to  Chris- 
tianity, and  the  transference  of  the  seat  of  Empire  to  New  Rome,  Con- 
stantinople, the  Greek  language,  already  bastardized  by  the  conflux  of 
a  hundred  different  races  into  the  capital  and  provinces,  acquired  a 
new  importance  as  the  language  of  the  Eastern  Church.  But  as  mas- 
sacres were  constant  and  fresh  hordes  from  all  quarters  were  fre- 
quently pouring  in,  the  language  of  the  church  books  soon  became  un- 
intelligible to  the  masses,  who  all  styled  themselves  Romans,  and  the 
result  was  the  modern  jargon  called  by  those  mixed  natives  themselves 
the  Roman  language,  the  Romaic,  but  which  has  been  fondly  styled 
(  Greek,*  by  the  rest  of  Europe.^ 

260.  This  is  simply  an  address  to  the  friend  at  whose  request  Fazil 
says   he  wrote  the  book ;  it  is    couched  in  these    terms  because   he   is 
about  to  describe  Christians. 

261.  They  are  of  easy  virtue. 

262.  This  also  is  in  imitation  of  an  equivoque  in  the  original. 

263.  Qnsk  dili,  (<  bird  language, M  is  the  Turkish  term  for  the  imita- 
tive language    of  children.     All    this   passage   refers  to  the    imperfect 
way  in  which  the  <(  Greeks  w  speak  Turkish. 

264.  For:     The  wine,  O  noble  lord,  wilt  thou  not  sip?  in  imitation 
of  the  original,  which  has  Hasretin  bade   isersin,  selebi?  for  Hazretin, 
bade  tchersin,  chelebi?      They  cannot  pronounce  some    of    the  Turkish 
letters.     The  three  following  lines  are  in  correct  Turkish. 

265.  Easterns  drink  to  the  love,  not  the  health,  of  another. 

266.  She  walks  so  lightly. 

267.  Kokona   is  the  Romaic  for  a  (< lady ;  *  qoqu  ne  (Turkish),  <( what 
a  perfume !  *  occurs   in   the  next    line,    thus  giving    an   untranslatable 
equivoque. 

*  «  On  the  Significations  of  the  Term  <  The  Turks  »  (reprinted  from  the  Transac- 
tions of  the  Royal  Society  of  literature,  Vol.  xi,,  Part  iii.,  New  Series),  page  9. 

t"  A  Theory  of  the  Chief  Human  Races  »  (reprinted  from  the  Transactions  of  the 
Royal  Society  of  Literature,  Vol.  xii.,  Part  ii.,  1880),  page  14, 


NOTES  283 

268.  A  feri  is  a  fairy. 

269.  'Imran  is  the  name  given  in  the  Qur'an   to  the   father  of  the 
Virgin  Mary. 

270.  Alluding  to  the  eggs  dyed  red  with  logwood,  and   eaten  hard- 
boiled  by  the  Eastern  Christians  at  Easter. 

271.  <(  Genus  *  and  (( genius  *  are  in  imitation  of  an  equivoque  in  the 
original:  /insin,  (<  thy  genus,  *  and   jinn  sin   <(thou  art  a  jinn,*  genie, 
genius. 

272.  The  last  strophe  of  this  poem  in  honor  of  Qapudan  (Admiral) 
Huseyn  Pasha,  one  of  the  Ottoman  officers  who  served  against  Napo- 
leon in  Egypt,  is  a  chronogram ;   but  as  it  simply  consists  of  a  series 
of  quite  untranslatable  verbal   quibbles,  I   have  not   attempted   to   re- 
produce it. 

273.  N*'rem,  or  Neriman,  and  Sam  are  two  old  Per&ian  heroes  who 
performed  many  marvelous  exploits  in  the  days  of  the  P/shdad*  Kings ; 
the  latter  was  grandfather   of   the   celebrated  Rustem.     Their   adven- 
tures are  told  in  the    Shaft- Nama. 

274.  The  'Arsb  is  the  highest  heaven  (84).    The  line  means:  «Hang 
up  thy  sword  in  the  sky  as  a  constellation.* 

275.  Ummu-'l-Bilador  Umm-i  Dunya,  (<  Mother  of  Cities,*  or (<  Mother 
of  the  World,*  a  title  of  Cairo. 

276.  Nef't,    the    most    famous  poet  of    the  time   of   Sultan    Murad 
IV.,    one  of    whose  gazels    is  translated    on   page    134.      He   wrote  a 
qasida  the  opening  couplet  of  which  is  used   by  Wasif  as   the   refrain 
for  this  poem. 

277.  Jem  is  a  shorter  form  of  Jemshid  (63). 

278.  An  (<  Egyptian  horse  *   was  an  Arab  blood-horse,  such   as   was 
then  esteemed  and  used  by  the  chivalrous  Memlwks  of  Egypt,  for  war 
purposes    and    tournaments.     They   are   now  called  'Areb,    Nejd'i,  or 
'Anczi. 

279.  A  sharqi,  as  stated   in  the  Introduction,  is  a  song  for  singing. 

280.  The   (<  Scio    Rose  *  is  a  choice  variety  of   rose.     Wasif  would 
seem    to    have  had  a  favorite    odaliq  who  cc.me    from  that  island,    in 
whose  honor  this  and  several  others  of  his  verses  were  written ;  as  he 
frequently  speaks  of  his  (<Scio  Rose.* 

281.  <(Say,  <O   my  servants!  who  have  wronged  their   own  souls!* 
do  not  despair  of  the  mercy  of  God ;   verily  God  forgiveth  sins,  all  of 
them;  verily  He  [is  forgiving,  merciful.*  (Qjar'an,  xxxix.,  54.)    I  doubt 
if  this  poem  can  be  correctly  called  a  gazel;  it  is  in  form  similar   to  a 
strophe  of  a   TerjV-Bend. 

282.  The  Mihnet  KesAan  is  a  long  poem  of  about  7,000  couplets.    The 
name  may  be  read  «  The  Sufferer,*  «  The  Sufferers,*  or  «  The  Suffering 


284  NOTES 

of  (at)  Keshan.*    The  town  of  Keshan  was  the  scene  of   the  author's 
banishment. 

283.  The  seed,  or  grain  of  the  heart,  the  heart's   core  —  said   to  be 
the  principle  of  life,  or  the  sign  of  original  sin. 

284.  Ban  is  a  Sclavonic  title  meaning  <( governor*  or  (< ruler. w     The 
wardens  of  the  eastern  marches  of  Hungary  were  thus  styled.     Many 
Sclavonic,    Hungarian,     Romaic,     and     Prankish    words      have     been 
adopted  into  the   Ottoman  language. 

285.  This  Qit'a  is  a   T&rikh  « Chronogram »  on  the  death    of    '  An- 
delib     Khanim,     (<Lady    Nightingale,*   an   adopted    sister    of    Sultan 
Mahm«d  II.     In   the  original    the  menq\at  or  <(  dotted*   letters,  occur- 
ring in   the   last    line,    give   on    addition    the   date    1252    (1836),  the 
year  of   the    lady's    death.     I    have   preserved  the    conceit   by  using 
Roman   letters  which   have  a  numerical  value,  such  as  C,  D,  I,  etc., 
to  make  up  the  same  amount — 1252. 

286.  (<  O  thou  comforted  soul !    return    unto  thy  Lord,  well  pleased 
and  well  pleased  with !  *     (Qur'an,  Ixxxiz,  28.) 

287.  For    a    description    of     the    variety    of      composition     styled 
Takhmis,  see  Introduction,  Sec.  II.     Baqt's  gazel  is  here   printed   in 
italics. 

288.  For  this   war- song,    which   was  composed  on  the   occasion    of 
the  last  Russian   attack  upon  Turkey,   I   am   indebted   to  Mr.    H.  A. 
Homes,  of  New  York,  the  translator  of  G&zali's  Kimiya.-yi   Sa'&dct. 

289.  The  banner  of  the  Janissaries   displayed   the    Zu-l-Ftq&r,  the 
double-pointed  sword  of  the    Khah'fa  4A1». 

290.  Teyatro-X'Aa.na,  perhaps  the  first  mention  of  a  (<  theatre*  in 
Oriental  poetry. 

291.  Key  means   any    King  of  the    Keyani  Dynasty. 


THE  LOVE-SONG 


OF 


KING  SULEIMAN 


INTRODUCTION 


THIS  most  beautiful  of    Oriental    love-songs    is    typical  of 
Arabic  and    Ottoman    lyric    poetry.     As    explained  in 
the   Introduction    to  this    volume,   symbolism    is  made 
use  of  for  various    ends,  especially    that  of    the  garden  and 
landscape. 

The  idyllic  charm  of  this  Hebrew  version  of  the  dra- 
matic poem  has  been  considerably  dimmed  by  forced  inter- 
pretations. As  it  stands  it  may  be  accepted  as  a  setting  of 
the  old  yet  ever  fresh  story  of  the  universal  heart,  common 
in  every  age  the  world  over. 

By  some  scholars  the  simple  Shulamite  maiden  is  sup- 
posed to  have  refused  her  royal  suitor  on  account  of  his 
oppressive  pomp  and  state.  Others  hold  that  the  King 
paid  court  to  her  anew  in  the  guise  of  a  shepherd  youth, 
and  having  won  her  favor,  revealed  his  rank  and  claimed 
her  as  his  own. 

The  matter  is  of  no  great  importance  when  the  theme  is  so 
charming,  and  the  poetry  of  such  exquisite  Oriental  feeling. 
Among  the  several  renderings  of  the  <<Song,))  conjectural  at 
best,  we  present  the  one  which  seems  most  satisfactory, 
making  such  occasional  modifications  in  arrangement  and 
expression  as  simplify  the  dialogue  and  sustain  the  poetical 
level. 

(286) 


THE    LOVE-SONG    OF    KING    SULEIMAN 


THE    SHULAMITE    MAIDEN    RECOUNTS    HER 
LOVER'S    WOOING 

THE  voice  of  my  beloved! 
Behold,  he  cometh  leaping  upon  the  mountains, 
Skipping  upon  the  hills. 

My  beloved  is  like  a   roe  or  a  young  hart : 
Behold,  he  standeth  behind  our  wall, 
He  looketh  forth  at  the  windows, 
He  showeth  himself  through  the  lattice. 

My  beloved  spake,   and  said  unto  me: 

Rise  up,  my  love! 

Rise  up,  my  fair  one! 

And  come  away ; 
For,  lo,  the  winter  is  past, 
The  rain  is  over  and  gone. 

The  flowers  appear  on  the  earth, 

The  time  of  the  singing  of  birds  is  come, 

The  voice  of  the  turtle-dove  is  heard  in   our  land ; 

The  fig  tree  putteth  forth  her  green  figs, 

The  vines  with  the  tender  grape  give  a  goodly  smell ; 

Arise,  my  love,  my  fair  one, 

And  come  away ! 

O  my  dove ! 

Who  art  in  the  clefts  of  the  rock, 
In  the  secret  places  of  the  stairs, 
Let  me  see  thy  countenance, 
Let  me  hear  thy  voice, 

For  sweet  is  thy  voice 

And  comely  thy  countenance ! 

(287) 


288  THE   LOVE-SONG 

(  She  gives  voice  to  her  delight  in  a  spontaneous 
song) 

My  beloved  is   mine, 

And  I  am  his ! 

He  feedeth  his  flock  among  the  lilies. 

Until  the  day  break, 

And  the  shadows  flee  away, 

Turn,  my  beloved, 

And  be  thou  like  a  roe 

Or  a  young  hart  upon  the  mountain. 


THE  KING  VISITS  HER  IN  STATE 

Who  is  this  that  cometh  out  of  the  wilderness 

Like  pillars  of  smoke, 
Perfumed  with  myrrh  and  frankincense, 
With  all  powders  of  the  merchant? 
Behold  his  bed,   which  is  Solomon's ; 
Threescore  valiant  men  are  about  it, 

The  valiant  of  Israel. 

They  all  hold  swords,  being  expert  in  war; 
Every  man  hath  his  sword  upon  his  thigh 

Because  of  fear  in  the  night. 
King  Solomon  made  himself  a  chariot 

Of  the  wood  of  Lebanon. 
He  made  the  pillars  thereof   of  silver, 

The  bottom  thereof  of  gold, 
The  covering  of  it  of  purple, 
The  midst  thereof  being  paved  with  love, 
For  the  daughters  of  Jerusalem. 
Go  forth,   O  ye  daughters  of  Zion, 
Behold  king  Solomon  with  the  crown 
Wherewith  his  mother  crowned  him 
In  the  day  of  his  espousals, 
And  in  the  day  of  the  gladness  of  his  heart. 


OF   KING   SULEIMAN  289 


SHE  TELLS  HIM  HER  DREAM 

By  night  on  my  bed  I  sought  him 

Whom  my  soul  loveth ; 
I  sought  him,  but  I  found  him  not, 
I  will  rise  now,  and  go  about  the  city  in  the  streets 
And  in  the  broad  ways  I  will  seek  him 

Whom  my  soul  loveth ; 
I  sought  him,   but  I  found  him  not. 
The  watchmen  that  go  about  the  city  found  me ; 

To  whom  I  said: 

Saw  ye  him  whom  my  soul  loveth? 
It  was  but  a  little  that  I  passed  from  them, 
But  I  found  him  whom  my  soul  loveth ; 
I  held  him,  and  would  not  let  him  go, 
Until  I  had  brought  him  into  my  mother's  house, 
And  into  the  chamber  of  her  that  conceived  me. 

And  I  said  : 

I  charge  you,   O  ye  daughters  of  Jerusalem, 
By  the  roes,  and  by  the  hinds  of  the  field, 
That  ye  stir  not  up,  nor  awake  my  love, 

Till  he  please. 


THE  KING'S  LOVE-MAKING 

Behold,  thou  art  fair,  my  love ; 
Behold,  thou  art  fair ; 
Thou  hast  doves'  eyes  within  thy  locks ; 

Thy  hair  is  as  a  flock  of  goats,  that  appear  from  Mount  Gilead. 
Thy  teeth  are  like  a  flock  of  sheep  smoothly  shorn, 
Which  came  up  from  the  washing ; 
Whereof  every  one  bear  twins, 
And  none  is  barren  among  them. 
19 


290  THE   LOVE-SONG 

Thy  lips  are  like  a  thread  of  scarlet. 

Thy  speech  is  comely; 
Thy  temples  are  like  a  piece  of  a  pomegranate  within    thy 

locks. 
Thy  neck  is  like  the  tower  of  David 

Builded  for  an  armory, 

Whereon  there  hang  a  thousand   bucklers, 
All  shields  of  mighty  men. 

Thy  two  breasts  are  like  two  young  roes  that  are  twins, 
Which  feed  among  the  lilies, 
Until  the  day  break, 
And  the  shadows  flee  away, 
I  will  get  me  to  the  mountain  of  myrrh, 
And  to  the  hill  of  frankincense. 
Thou  art  all  fair,  my  love ; 
There  is  no  spot  in  thee. 
Come  with  me  from  Lebanon, 
My  spouse,   with  me  from  Lebanon ; 
Look  from  the  top  of  Amana, 
From  the  top  of  Shenir  and  Hermon, 
From  the  lions'   dens, 
From  the  mountains  of  the  leopards. 

Thou  hast  ravished  my  heart, 

My  sister,  my  spouse ; 

Thou  hast  ravished  my  heart 

With  one  of  thine  eyes, 

With  one  chain  of  thy  neck. 

How  fair  is  thy  love, 

My  sister,  my  spouse ! 

How  much  better  is  thy  love  than  wine ! 
And  the  smell  of  thine  ointments  than  all  spices ! 
Thy  lips,  O  my  spouse,  drop  as  the  honeycomb ; 
Honey  and  milk  are  under  thy  tongue  ; 
The  smell  of  thy  garments  is  like  the  smell  of  Lebanon. 

A  garden  inclosed 

Is  my  sister,  my  spouse  ; 

A  spring  shut  up, 

A  fountain  sealed. 


OF   KING   SULEIMAN  291 

Thy  plants  are  an  orchard  of  pomegranates,    with   pleasant 
fruits ; 

Camphire,   with  spikenard. 

Spikenard  and  saffron ; 

Calamus  and  cinnamon, 
With  all  trees  of  frankincense ; 
Myrrh  and  Aloes,  with  all  the  chief  spices  : 

A  fountain  of  gardens, 

A  well  of  living  waters, 

And  streams  from  Lebanon. 

(She  exclaims) 
Awake,   O  north  wind! 
Come,   O  thou  wind  from  the  south! 
Blow  upon  my  garden, 
That  the  spices  thereof  may  flow  out. 
Let  my  beloved  come  into  his  garden, 
And  eat  his  pleasant  fruits. 

(The  King  continues) 

I  am  come  into  my  garden, 

My  sister,  my  spouse; 

I  have  gathered  my  myrrh  with  my  spice; 
I  have  eaten  my  honeycomb  with  my  honey; 
I  have  drunk  my  wine  with  my  milk; 

Eat,  O  friends, 
Drink,  yea  drink  abundantly,  O  beloved! 


THE  SHULAMITE  MAIDEN  TELLS  HER  COMPANIONS 
OF  HER  LOVE 

I  Sleep,  but  my  heart  waketh  : 

It  is  the  voice  of  my  beloved  that  knocketh,  saying, 
Open  to  me,  my  sister, 
My  love,  my  dove,  my  undefiled, — 

For  my  head  is  filled  with  dew, 

And  my  locks  with  the  drops  of  the  night. 

I  have  put  off  my  coat ;  how  shall  I  put  it  on  ? 

I  have  washed  my  feet ;  how  shall  I  defile  them  ? 


292  THE   LOVE-SONG 

My  beloved  put  in  his  hand  by  the  hole  of  the  door, 

And  my  bowels  were  moved  for  him. 

I  rose  up  to  open  to  my  beloved ; 

And  my  hands  dropped  with  myrrh, 

My  fingers  with  sweet  smelling  myrrh, 

Upon  the  handles  of  the  lock. 


I  opened  to  my  beloved ; 
But  my  beloved  had  withdrawn  himself, 
And  was  gone  : 

My  soul  failed  when  he  spake ; 
I  sought  him,  but  I  could  not  find  him  ; 
I  called  him,   but  he  gave  me  no  answer. 
The  watchmen  that  went  about  the  city  found  me, 
They  smote  me,  they  wounded  me ; 

The  keepers  of  the  walls  took  away  my  veil  from  me. 
I  charge  you,  O  daughters  of  Jerusalem, 
If  ye  find  my  beloved, 
That  ye  tell  him,  that  I  am  sick  of  love. 


(They  ask  her) 

What  is  thy  beloved  more  than  another  beloved, 

O  thou  fairest  among  women? 
What  is  thy  beloved  more  than  another  beloved, 

That  thou  dost  so  charge  us? 


(She  replies) 

My  beloved  is  white  and  ruddy, 

The  chiefest  among  ten  thousand. 

His  head  is  as  the  most  fine  gold ; 
His  locks  are  bushy,  and  black  as  a  raven ; 
His  eyes  are  as  the  eyes  of  doves  by  the  rivers  of  waters, 

Washed  with  milk,  and  fitly  set : 

His  cheeks  are  as  a  bed  of  spices, 
As  sweet  flowers: 
His  lips  like  lilies, 

Dropping  sweet  smelling  myrrh  : 


OF   KING   SULEIMAN  293 

His  hands  are  as  gold  rings  set  with  the  beryl ; 
His  belly  is  as  bright  ivory  overlaid  with  sapphires  ; 

His  legs  are  as  pillars  of  marble, 

Set  upon  sockets  of  fine  gold ; 

His  countenance  is  as  Lebanon, 

Excellent  as  the  cedars. 

His  mouth  is  most  sweet: 

Yea,  he  is  altogether  lovely. 
This  is  my  beloved, 
This  is  my  friend, 

O  daughters  of  Jerusalem. 

(They  ask) 

Whither  is  thy  beloved  gone, 

0  thou  fairest  among  women? 
Whither  is  thy  beloved  turned  aside? 
That  we  may  seek  him  with  thee. 

(She  replies) 

My  beloved  is  gone  down  into  his  garden, 

To  the  beds  of  spices, 
To  feed  in  the  gardens,  and  to  gather  lilies. 

1  am  my  beloved's, 

And  my  beloved  is  mine; 
He  feedeth  among  the  lilies. 


THE  KING  PICTURES  His  BELOVED 

Thou  art  beautiful, 

O  my  love,  as  Tirzah, 
Comely  as  Jerusalem, 
Terrible  as  an  army  with  banners. 
Turn  away  thine  eyes  from  me, 
For  they  have  overcome    me  : 


294  THE   LOVE-SONG 

Thy  hair  is  as  a  flock  of  goats  that  appear  from  Gilead. 

Thy  teeth  are  as  a  flock  of  sheep 

Which  go  up  from  the  washing, 

Whereof  every  one  beareth  twins, 

And  there  is  not  one  barren  among  them. 

As  a  piece  of    a    pomegranate    are    thy  temples  within    thy 

locks. 

There  are  threescore  queens, 
And  fourscore  concubines, 
And  virgins  without  number. 

My  dove,  my  undefiled,  is  but  one ; 
She  is  the  only  one  of  her  mother, 
She  is  the  choice  one  of  her  that  bare  her. 
The  daughters  saw  her,   and  blessed  her ; 
Yea,  the  queens  and  the  concubines, 
And  they  praised  her. 

Who  is  she  that  looketh  forth  as  the  morning, 
Fair  as  the  moon,  clear  as  the  sun, 
Terrible  as  an  army  with  banners  ? 

I  went  down  into  the  garden  of   nuts 

To  see  the  fruits  of  the  valley, 

To  see  whether  the  vine  flourished, 

And  the  pomegranates  budded. 

Or  ever  I  was  aware, 

My  soul  made  me  like  the  chariots  of  Ammi-nadib. 

Return,  return,  O  Shiilamite; 

Return,  that  we  may  look  upon  thee. 

How  beautiful  are    thy  sandaled  feet,  O    prince's  daughter! 

The  joints  of  thy  thighs  are  like  jewels, 

The  work  of  the  hands  of  a  cunning  workman. 

Thy  navel  is  like  a  round  goblet, 

Which  wanteth  not  liquor: 

Thy  belly  is  like  an  heap  of  wheat  set  about  with  lilies. 

Thy  two  breasts  are  like  two  young  roes  that  are  twins. 

Thy  neck  is  as  a  tower  of  ivory ; 

Thine  eyes  like  the  fishpools    in  Heshbon, 

By  the  gate  of  Bath-rabbim : 


OF   KING   SULEIMAN  295 

Thy  nose  is  as  the  tower,  of  Lebanon  which  looketh  toward 

Damascus. 

Thine  head  upon  thee  is  like   Carmel, 
And  the  hair  of  thine  head  like  purple ; 
The  king  is  held  captive  in  thy  entangling  hair! 

How  fair  and  how  pleasant  art  thou, 

0  love,   for  delights! 

This  thy  stature  is  like  to  a  palm  tree. 
Thy  breasts  to  clusters  of  grapes. 

1  said,  I  will  go  up  to  the  palm  tree, 

I  will  take  hold  of  the  boughs  thereof: 
Now  also  thy  breasts  shall  be  as  clusters  of  the  vine, 
And  the  smell  of  thy  nose  like  apples ; 

And  the  roof  of   the    mouth  like  the    best  wine  for  my  be- 
loved, 

That  goeth  down  sweetly, 
Causing  the  lips  of  those  that  are  asleep  to  speak. 


THE  SHULAMITK  YEARNS  FOR  HER  LOVER 

I  am  my  beloved's,   and  his  desire  is  toward  me. 

0  that  thou   wert  as  my  brother, 
That  sucked  the  breasts  of  my  mother! 
When  I  should  find  thee  without, 

I  would  kiss  thee ; 
Yea,  I  should  not  be  despised. 
I  would  lead  thee, 

And  bring  thee  into  my  mother's  house, 
Who  would  instruct    me: 

1  would  cause  thee  to  drink  of  spiced  wine 
Of  the  juice  of  my  pomegranate. 

His  left  hand  should  be  under  my  head, 
And  his  right  hand  should  embrace  me. 
I  charge  you,   O  daughters  of  Jerusalem, 

That  ye  stir  not    up, 

Nor  awake  my  love, 

Until  he  please. 


296  THE   LOVE-SONG 


THE  BETROTHAL  PROCESSION 

Who  is  this  that  cometh  up  from  the  wilderness 
Leaning  upon  her  beloved? 

HE 

Under  the  apple  tree  I  awakened  thee ; 
There  thy  mother  brought  thee  forth ; 
There  she  that  bare  thee  brought  thee  forth. 

SHE 

Set  me  as  a  seal  upon  thy  heart, 
As  a  seal  upon  thine  arm; 
For  Love  is  strong  as  death; 
Jealousy  is  cruel  as  the  grave: 
The  coals  thereof  are  coals  of  fire, 
Which  hath  a  most  vehement  flame. 
Many  waters  cannot   quench  Love ; 
Neither  can  the  floods  drown  Love: 
If  a  man  would  give  all  in  his  house  for  Love 
It  would  utterly  be  contemned. 

HE 

I  have  compared  thee,   O  my  love, 
To  a  company  of  horses  in  Pharaoh's  chariots, 
Thy  cheeks  are  comely  with  rows  of  jewels, 
Thy  neck  with  chains  of  gold. 
We  will  make  thee  borders  of  gold 
With  studs  of  glittering  silver. 


THE  MARRIAGE  DAY 

Solomon  had  a  vineyard  at  Baal-hamon; 
He  let  out  the  vineyard  unto  keepers; 
Everyone  for  the    fruit  thereof    was  to  bring  a  thou- 
sand pieces  of  silver. 


OF   KING   SULEIMAN  297 

.    SHE 

My  vineyard,   which  is  mine,  is  before  me; 
Thou,   O  Suleiman,  must  have  a  thousand, 
And  those  that  keep  its  fruit,  two  hundred. 
Make  haste,  my  beloved, 
Be  thou  like  to  a  roe  or  a  young  hart 
Upon  the  mountain  of  spices. 

HE 

Behold,  thou  art  fair,  my  love  ! 

Thou  hast  dove's  eyes ! 

Behold,  thou  art  fair,  my  beloved ! 

Yea,  ever  art  thou  pleasant, 

And  our  bridal  bed  is  green ; 

The  beams  of  our  house  are  cedar; 

Our  rafters  are  of  fir. 

SHE 

While  the  King  sitteth  at  his  table, 
My  spikenard  sendeth  forth  its  fragrance ; 
A  bunch  of  myrrh  is  my  well-beloved  to  me; 
He  shall  lie  all  night  betwixt  my  breasts. 

HE 

Behold,  thou  art  fair,  my  love! 

SHE 

Kiss  me  with  the  kisses  of  thy  mouth, 

For  thy  love  is  better  than  wine ; 

Thy  name  is  as  scented  ointment  poured  forth, 

Therefore  do  the  Virgins  love  thee. 

Draw  me,   I  will  run  after  thee; 

The  King  hath  brought  me  into  his  chambers. 

We  will  be  glad,  and  rejoice; 

We  will  cherish  love  more  than  wine ! 

HE 
Behold,  thou  art  fair,  my  love  ! 


298  THE   LOVE-SONG   OF   KING   SULEIMAN 

SHE 

I  am  black,  but  comely, 

O  ye  daughters  of  Jerusalem, 

As  the  tents  of  Kedar, 

As  the  curtains  of   Suleiman. 

Look  not  down  upon  me 

Because  I  am  black, 

Because  the  sun  hath  looked  upon  me 

My  mother's  children  were  angry  with  me; 

They  made  me  the  keeper  of  the  vineyards, 

But  mine  own  vineyard  have  I  not  kept. 

HE 

Come,  my  beloved,  let  us  go  forth  into  the  field, 

Let  us  lodge  in  the  villages: 

Let  us  get  up  early  to  the    vineyards, 

Let  us  see  if  the  vine  flourish, 

Whether  the  tender  grape  appear, 

Whether  the  pomegranates  bud  forth, 

There  will  I  give  thee  my  loves, 

The  mandrakes  give  forth  fragrance, 

At  our  gates  are  all  the  luscious  fruits 

New  and  old,   which  I  have  kept  for  thee, 

0  my  beloved ! 

SHE 

1  am  my  beloved's 

And  his  desire  is  toward  me! 

HE 

Behold,  thou  art  fair,  my  love  ! 
Behold,  thou  art  fair ! 


PERSIAN  AND  ARABIAN  POEMS 


(299) 


FIRDAUSI 

The  great  epic  of  Persia  is  the  Shahnamah,  or  Book  of 
Kings.  It  was  completed  by  the  poet  Abul  Kasim  Mansur, 
who  took  up  the  work  begun  by  Dakiki.  So  excellent  was 
Mansur's  verse  that  the  Sultan  re-named  him  Firdausi,  the 
Paradisaic.  He  died  A.  D.  1020. 

The  story  of  Rustem,  the  national  hero,  has  often  been 
told  in  verse.  The  fight  with  Sohrab  is  described,  and  the 
following  verses  tell  of 


THE   DEATH   OF   SOHRAB 

AGAIN  they  met.      A  glow  of  youthful  grace 
Diffused  its  radiance  o'er  the  stripling's  face, 
And  when  he  saw,  in  renovated  guise, 
The  foe  so  lately  mastered ;  with  surprise 
He  cried  —  <(What!   rescued  from  my  power,  again 
Dost  thou  confront  me  on  the  battle  plain? 
Or  dost  thou  wearied  draw  thy  vital  breath, 
And  seek,  from  warrior  bold,  the  shaft  of  death? 
Truth  has  no  charms  for  thee,  old  man ;  even  now, 
Some  further  cheat   may  lurk   upon  thy  brow ; 
Twice  have  I  shown  thee  mercy,  twice  thy  age 
Hath  been  thy  safety  —  twice  it  soothed  my  rage.0 
Then  mild  the  Champion  :   (<  Youth  is  proud  and  vain. 
The  idle  boast  a  warrior  would  disdain ; 
This  aged  arm  perhaps  may  yet  control 
The  wanton  fury  that  inflames  thy  soul !  * 

Again,   dismounting,  each  the  other  viewed 
With  sullen  glance,  and  swift  the  fight  renewed; 
Clenched  front  to  front,  again  they  tug  and  bend. 
Twist  their  broad  limbs  as  every  nerve  would  rend; 
With  rage  convulsive  Rustem  grasps  him  round ; 
Bends  his  strong  back,  and  hurls  him  to  the  ground ; 

(301) 


302  PERSIAN  AND 

Him,   who  had  deemed  the  triumph  all  his  own ; 

But  dubious  of  his  power  to  keep  him  down, 

Like  lightning  quick  he  gives  the  deadly  thrust, 

And  spurns  the  stripling  weltering  in  the  dust, 

—  Thus  as  his  blood  that  shining  steel  imbrues, 

Thine  too  shall  flow,   when  Destiny  pursues ; 

For  when  she  marks  the  victim  of  her  power, 

A  thousand  daggers  speed  the  dying  hour. 

Writhing  with  pain  Sohrab  in  murmurs  sighed  — 

And  thus  to  Rustem  — (< Vaunt  not  in  thy  pride; 

Upon  myself  this  sorrow  have  I  brought, 

Thou  but  the  instrument  of  fate  —  which  wrought 

My  downfall ;  thou  art  guiltless  —  guiltless  quite  ; 

Oh !   had  I  seen  my  father  in  the  fight, 

My  glorious  father !      Life  will  soon  be  o'er, 

And  his  great  deeds  enchant  my  soul  no  more ! 

Of  him  my  mother  gave  the  mark  and  sign, 

For  him  I  sought,   and  what  an  end  is  mine! 

My  only  wish  on  earth,   my  constant  sigh, 

Him  to  behold,  and  with    that  wish  I  die. 

But  hope  not  to  elude  his  piercing  sight, 

In  vain  for  thee  the  deepest  glooms  of  night , 

Couldst  thou  through  Ocean's  depths  for  refuge  fly, 

Or  midst  the  star-beams  track  the  upper  sky  ! 

Rustem,   with  vengeance  armed,   will  reach  thee  there, 

His  soul  the  prey  of  anguish  and  despair. w 


An  Icy  horror  chills  the  Champion's  heart, 
His  brain  whirls  round  with  agonizing  smart ; 
O'er  his  wan  cheek  no  gushing  sorrows  flow, 
Senseless  he  sinks  beneath  the  weight  of  woe ; 
Relieved  at  length,   with  frenzied  look,  he  cries  : 
w  Prove  thou  art  mine,  confirm    my  doubting  eyes ! 
For  I  am  Rustem !  *     Piercing  was  the  groan, 
Which  burst  from  his  torn  heart  —  as  wild  and  lone, 
He  gazed  upon  him.     Dire  amazement  shook 
The  dying  youth,  and  mournful  thus  he  spoke  : 
*  If  thou  art  Rustem,  cruel  as  thy  part, 
No  warmth  paternal  seems  to  fill  thy  heart ; 


ARABIAN   POEMS  303 

Else  hadst  thou  known  me  when,   with  strong  desire, 

I  fondly  claimed  thee  f<r-  my  valiant  sire  ; 

Now  from  my  body  strip  the  shining  mail, 

Untie  these  bands  ere  life  and  feeling  fail, 

And  on  my  arm  the  direful  proof  behold! 

Thy  sacred  bracelet  of  refulgent  gold  ! 

When  the  loud  brazen  drums  were  heard  afar, 

And,  echoing  round,   proclaimed  the  pending  war, 

Whilst  parting  tears  my  mother's  eyes  o'erflowed, 

This  mystic  gift  her  bursting  heart  bestowed : 

< Take  this, *  she  said,   ( thy  father's  token  wear, 

And  promised  glory  will  reward  thy  care.* 

The  hour  is  come,  but  frought  with  bitterest  woe, 

We  meet  in  blood  to  wail  the  fatal  blow." 

The  loosened  mail  unfolds  the  bracelet   bright, 

Uhappy  gift !   to  Rustem's   wildered  sight ; 

Prostrate  he  falls  — <(  By  my  unnatural  hand, 

My  son,  my  son  is  slain  —  and  from  the  land 

Uprooted.*  —  Frantic,  in  the  dust,   his  hair 

He  rends  in  agony  and  deep  despair; 

The  western  sun  had  disappeared  in  gloom, 

And  still  the  Champion   wept  his  cruel  doom ; 

His  wondering  legions  marked  the  long  delay, 

And,  seeing  Rakush  riderless  astray, 

The  rumor  quick  to  Persia's  Monarch  spread, 

And  there  described  the  mighty  Rustem  dead. 

Kaus,  alarmed,  the  fatal  tidings  hears ; 

His  bosom  quivers  with  increasing  fears. 

C(  Speed,  speed,   and  see  what  has  befallen  to-day 

To  cause  these  groans  and  tears  —  what  fatal  fray! 

If  he  be  lost,  if  breathless  on  the  ground, 

And  this  young  warrior  with  the  conquest  crowned  — 

Then  must  I,  humbled    trom  my  kingdom  torn, 

Wander  like  Jemshid  through  the  world  forlorn.8 

The  army  roused  rushed  o'er  the  dusty  plain, 
Urged  by  the  Monarch  to  revenge  the  slain ; 
Wild  consternation  saddened  every  face. 
Tus,   winged  with  horror,  sought  the  fatal  place, 


304  PERSIAN   AND 

And  there  beheld  the  agonizing  sight, — 
The  murderous  end  of  that  unnatural  fight, 
Sohrab,  still  breathing,   hears  the  shrill  alarms, 
His  gentle  speech  suspends  the  clang  of  arms : 
<(My  light  of  life  now  fluttering  sinks  in  shade, 
Let  vengeance  sleep,  and  peaceful  vows  be  made. 
Beseech  the  King  to  spare  this  Tartar  host, 
For  they  are  guiltless,  all  to  them  is  lost; 
I  led  them  on,  their  souls  with  glory  fired, 
While  mad  ambition  all  my  thoughts  inspired. 
In  search  of  thee,  the  world  before  my  eyes, 
War  was  my  choice,  and  thou  the  sacred  prize ; 
With  thee,  my  sire  !  in  virtuous  league  combined, 
No  tyrant  King  should  persecute  mankind. 
That  hope  is  past — the  storm  has  ceased  to  rave  — 
My  ripening  honors  wither  in  the  grave ; 
Then  let  no  vengeance  on  my  comrades  fall ; 
Mine  was  the  guilt,  and  mine  the  sorrow,  all ; 
How  often  have  I  sought  thee  —  oft  my  mind 
Portrayed  thee  to  my  sight  —  o'erjoyed  to  find 
My  mother's  token  ;   disappointment  came, 
When  thou  deniedst  thy  lineage  and  thy  name ; 
Oh !   still  o'er  thee  my  soul  impassioned  hung, 
Still  to  my  Father  fond  affection  clung  ! 
But  fate,  remorseless,   all  my  hopes  withstood, 
And  stained  thy  reeking  hands  in  kindred  blood.* 


His  faltering  breath  protracted  speech  denied; 
Still  from  his  eyelids  flowed  a  gushing  tide ; 
Through  Rustem's  soul  redoubled  horror  ran, 
Heart-rending  thoughts  subdued  the  mighty  man. 
And  now,  at  last,  with  joy  illumined  eye, 
The  Zabul  bands  their  glorious  Chief  descry ; 
But  when  they  saw  his  pale  and  haggard  look, 
Knew  from  what  mournful  cause  he  gazed  and  shook, 
With  downcast  mien  they  moaned  and  wept  aloud ; 
While  Rustem  thus  addressed  the  weeping  crowd  : 
"Here  ends  the  war!   let  gentle  peace  succeed, 
Enough  of  death,   I  —  I  have  done  the  deed!" 


ARABIAN   POEMS  305 

Then  to  his  brother,  groaning  deep,  he  said  — 
"Oh,  what  a  curse  upon  a  parent's  head! 
But  go  —  and  to  the  Tartar  say —  No  more 
Let  war  between  us  steep  the  earth  with  gore.® 


Then  to  his  dying  son  the  Champion  turned, 
Remorse  more  deep  within  his  bosom  burned; 
A  burst  of  frenzy  fired  his  throbbing  brain ; 
He  clenched  his  sword,  but  found  his  fury  vain. 
The  Persian  chiefs  the  desperate  act  repressed, 
And  tried  to  calm   the  tumult  in  his  breast ; 
Thus  Gudarz  spoke  — (<  Alas !   wert  thou  to  give 
Thyself  a  thousand  wounds,  and  cease  to  live, 
What  would  it  be  to  him  thou  sorrowest  o'er? 
It  would  not  save  one  pang  —  then  weep  no  more; 
For  if  removed  by  death,  O  say,  to  whom 
Has  ever  been   vouchsafed  a  different  doom? 
All  are  the  prey  of  death  —  the  crowned,  the  low, 
And  man,  through  life,  the  victim  still  of  woe.* 
Then  Rustem  :   (<  Fly !   and  to  the  king  relate 
The  pressing  horrors  which  involve  my  fate  ; 
And  if  the  memory  of  my  deeds  e'er  swayed 
His  mind,  Oh,  supplicate  his  generous  aid; 
A  sovereign  balm  he  has,   whose  wondrous  power 
All  wounds  can  heal,   and  fleeting  life  restore  ; 
Swift  from  his  tent  the  potent  medicine  bring. }) 


But  mark  the  malice  of  the  brainless  king! 
Hard  as  the  flinty  rock,  he  stern  denies 
The  healthful  draught,   and  gloomy  thus  replies: 
(<  Can  I  forgive  this  foul  and  slanderous  tongue  ? 
The  sharp  disdain  on  me  contemptuous  flung? 
Scorned  'midst  my  army  by  a  shameless  boy, 
Who  sought  my  throne,  my  sceptre,  to  destroy! 
Nothing  but  mischief  from  his  heart  can  flow; 
Is  it,  then,   wise  to  cherish  such  a  foe? 
The  fool  who  warms  his  enemy  to  life, 
Only  prepares  for  scenes  of  future  strife. w 
20 


306  PERSIAN   AND   ARABIAN   POEMS 

Gudarz,  returning,   told  the  hopeless  tale  — 
And  thinking  Rustem's  presence  might  prevail; 
The  Champion  rose,  but  ere  he  reached  the  throne, 
Sohrab  had  breathed  the  last  expiring  groan. 

Now  keener  anguish    rack'd  the  father's  mind, 

Reft  of  his  son,  a  murderer  of  his  kind; 

His  guilty  sword  distained  with  filial  gore, 

He  beat  his  burning  breast,  his  hair  he  tore : 

The  breathless  corpse  before  his  shuddering  view, 

A  shower  of  ashes  o'er  his  head  he  threw ; 

(<In  my  old  age,w  he  cried,   "what  have  I  done  ? 

Why  have  I  slain  my  son,  my  innocent  son  ? 

Why  o'er  his  splendid  dawning  did  I  roll 

The  clouds  of  death, —  and  plunge  my  burthened  soul 

In  agony?     My  son!   from  heroes  sprung! 

Better  these  hands  were  from  my  body  wrung; 

And  solitude  and  darkness,   deep  and  drear, 

Fold  me  from  sight  than  hated  linger  here. 

But  when  his  mother  hears,   with  horror  wild, 

That  I  have  shed  the  life-blood  of  her  child, 

So  nobly  brave,   so  dearly  loved  in  vain, 

How  can  her  heart  that  rending  shock  sustain?* 

Now  on  a  bier  the  Persian  warriors  place 

The  breathless  Youth,  and  shade  his  pallid  face  ; 

And  turning  from  that  fatal  field  away, 

Move  toward  the  Champion's  home  in  long  array. 

Then  Rustem,  sick  of  martial  pomp  and  show, 

Himself  the  spring  of  all  this  scene  of  woe, 

Doomed  to  the  flames  the  pageantry  he  loved, 

Shield,  spear,  and  mace,  so  oft  in  battle  proved; 

Now  lost  to   all,  encompassed  by  despair  ; 

His  bright  pavilion,  crackling,  blazed  in  air. 

The  sparkling  throne  the  ascending  column  fed  ; 

In  smoking  fragments  fell  the  golden  bed  ; 

The  raging  fire  red  glimmering  died  away, 

And  all  the  Warrior's  pride  in  dust  and  ashes  lay. 


KHAKANI 

EFSAL-ED-DIN  HAKAIKI  was  a  lyric  poet  of  great  merit 
and  fame,  who  was  honored  with  the  name  Khakani  by 
his  sovereign  the  Prince  of  Shirvan.  He  died  in  the  year 
1186. 

THE   UNKNOWN   BEAUTY 

O  WAVING  cypress!  cheek  of  rose! 
O  jasmine-breathing  bosom !   say, 
Tell  me  each  charm  that  round  her  glows ; 
Who  are  ye  that  my  heart  betray ; 

Tyrant  unkind !    to  whom  I  bow, 

0  life  destroyer  !  —  who  art  thou  ? 

1  saw  thy  form  of  waving  grace! 

I  heard  thy  soft  and  gentle  sighs; 
I  gazed  on  that  enchanting  face, 

And  looked  in  thy  narcissus  eyes ; 
Oh!  by  the  hopes  thy  smiles  allow, 

Bright  soul-inspirer  !  —  who  art  thou? 

Where'er  she  walks,   amidst  the  shades, 
Where  perfumed  hyacinths  unclose, 

Danger  her  ev'ry  glance  pervades  — 

Her  bow  is  bent  on   friends  and  foes. 

Thy  rich  cheek  shames  the  rose  —  thy    brow 
Is  like  the  young  moon  —  who  art  thou? 

The  poet-slave  has  dared  to  drain 

Draughts  of  thy  beauty,   till  his  soul, 

Confused  and  lost  in  pleasing  pain, 
Is  fled  beyond  his  own  control. 

What  bliss  can  life  accord  me  now 

But  onoe  to  know  thee !  —  who  art  thou  ? 

(307) 


SA'DI 

THE  writer  of  the  Gulistan  and  the  Bustan,  the  (<  Rose 
Garden"  and  the  "  Fruit  Garden, w  was  born  in  1184,  and 
lived,  it  is  said,  over  a  hundred  years.  His  verse  is  char- 
acterized by  proverbial  wisdom,  and  has  been  a  classic  for 
seven  centuries. 


THE   SINNER   AND   THE   MONK 

IN  JESUS'  time  there  lived  a  youth  so  black  and  dissolute, 
That  Satan  from  him  shrank,  appalled  in  every  attribute; 
He  in  a  sea  of  pleasures  foul  uninterrupted  swam, 
And  gluttonized  on  dainty  vices,  sipping  many  a  dram. 
Whoever  met  him  in  the  highway  turned  as  from  a  pest, 
Or,  pointing  lifted  finger  at  him,  cracked  some  horrid  jest. 
I  have  been  told  that  Jesus  once  was  passing  by  the  hut 
Where  dwelt  a  monk,  who  asked  him  in,  and  just  the  door 

had  shut, 

When  suddenly  that  slave  of  sin  appeared  across  the  way. 
Far  off  he  paused,  fell  down,  and  sobbingly  began  to  pray. 
As  blinded  butterflies  will  from  the  light  affrighted  shrink, 
So  from  those  righteous  men  in  awe  his  timid  glances  sink ; 
And  like  a  storm  of  rain  the  tears  pour  gushing  from  his 

eyes. 

"Alas,  and  woe  is  me,  for  thirty  squandered  years,*  he  cries. 
aln  drunkenness  I  have  expended  all  my  life's  pure  coin; 
And  now,  to  make  my  fit  award,  Hell's  worst  damnations  join. 
O  would  that  death  had  snatched  me  when  a   sinless   child 

I  lay. 

That  ne'er  had  I  been  forced  this  dreadful  penalty  to  pay. 
Yet  if  thou  let'st  no  sinner  drown  who  sinks  on  mercy's 

strand, 

O  then  in  pity,  Lord!  reach  forth  and  firmly  seize  my  hand." 
(308) 


PERSIAN   AND   ARABIAN   POEMS  309 

The  pride-puffed  monk,  self-righteous,  lifts  his  eyebrows 
with  a  sneer, 

And  haughtily  exclaims,  ((Vile  wretch!  in  vain  hast  thou 
come  here. 

Art  thou  not  plunged  in  sin,  and  tossed  in  lust's  devouring 
sea? 

What  will  thy  filthy  rags  avail  with  Jesus  and  with  me? 

O  God!   the  granting  of  a  single  wish  is  all  I  pray; 

Grant  me  to  stand  far  distant  from  this  man  in  the  judg- 
ment day.w 

From  Heaven's  throne  a  revelation  instantaneous  broke, 

And  God's  own  thunder  words  thus  through  the  mouth  of 
Jesus  spoke: 

tt  The  two  whom  praying  there  I  see  shall  equally  be  heard ; 

They  pray  diverse, —  I  give  to  each  according  to  his  word. 

That  poor  one  thirty  years  has  rolled  in  sin's  most  slimy 
deeps, 

But  now,  with  stricken  heart  and  streaming  tears,  for  par- 
don weeps. 

Upon  the  threshold  of  my  grace  he  throws  him  in  despair, 

And,   faintly  hoping  pity,   pours  his  supplications  there. 

Therefore,  forgiven  and  freed  from  all  the  guilt  in  which 
he  lies 

My  mercy  chooses  him  a  citizen  of  Paradise. 

This  monk  desires  that  he  may  not  that  sinner  stand  beside, 

Therefore  he  goes  to  Hell,   and  so  his  wish  is  gratified.* 

The    one's    heart    in    his    bosom    sank,    the    other's  proudly 

swelled ; 

In  God's  pure  court  all  egotistic  claims  as  naught  are  held. 
Whose  robe  is  white,  but  black  as  night  his  heart    beneath 

it  lies 

Is  a  live  key  at  which  the  gate  of  Hell  wide  open  flies! 
Truly  not  self-conceit  and  legal  works  with  God  prevail ; 
But  humbleness  and  tenderness  weigh  down  Salvation's 

scale- 


3io  PERSIAN   AND   ARABIAN  POEMS 


THE   MOTH    AND   THE   FLAME 

As  ONCE,  at  midnight  deep,  I  lay  with  sleepless  eyes, 
These    words    between    the    moth    and    light    did   me 

surprise. 

The  moth  kisses  the  flame,   and  says,   with  tender  sigh: 
(<  Dear  radiance!   I  rejoice  from  love  for  thee  to  die. 
My  love,  thou  diest  not,  yet  anxious  groans  and  strong 
Break  loudly  from  thy  heart,  through  all  the  darkness  long !  w 
The  bright  flame  says,   <(  O  moth !  whom  love  to  me  attracts, 
Know  that  I  also  burn  with  love  for  this  sweet   wax. 
Must  I  not  groan,  as  more  my  lover  melting  sinks, 
And  from  his  life  my  fatal  fire  still  deeper  drinks  ?  " 
As  thus  she  spake,   the  hot  tears  coursed  her  yellow  cheek, 
And  with  each  tear  crackled  a  separation  shriek. 
Then  from  her  mouth  these  further  words  of  pleading  fall: 
<(  Poor  moth !   boasting  of  love,  say  not  thou  lov'st  at  all. 
Ah!   how  thou  moan'st  when  the  fierce  heat  one  wing    has 

seared ; 

I  stand  till  my  whole  form  in  flame  has  disappeared. " 
And  so  she  talked  till  morning  shone  the  room  about ; 
When  lo !   a  maiden  came  to  put  the  candle  out ; 
It  flickered  up, —  the  wick  a  smoking  relic  lay. 
'Tis  thus,   O  gentle  hearts !   that  true  love  dies  away. 


NIZAMI 

PERSIAN  romance  has  its  favorite  singer  in  Nizami,  who 
died  at  a  great  age  in  1203.  His  exquisite  poem,  (( Laili 
and  Majnun,w  is  among  the  greatest  of  its  class. 

THE    WORLD    BEYOND 

ALEXANDER    the    Great    desired   to    reach    the   sources   of 
the  Nile.      After    a    long    march    he  came  to  a  steep 
mountain,    in    color   resembling    (<  green    glass, }>    from 
which  flows  down  the  river  Nile.       Of  the  people  sent    up 
thither  not  one  came    back.       At  last  a  man  is  despatched, 
accompanied    by    his    son,   with    orders    that,   arrived  at  the 
summit,  he  should  write  what  he  had  seen,  and  throw  down 
the  billet  to  his  son,   who  is  to  wait  for  him  below.       The 
son    returns    without    his    father,    but    with    the    following 
message : 

He  gave  to  the  King  the  paper,  and  the  King  read  written 

thereon : 

<(  From  the  toilsomeness  of  the  way, 
My  soul  fainted  within  me  from    terror, 
For  I  seemed  to  be  treading  the  road  to  Hell. 
The  path  was  contracted  to  a  hair's-breadth, 
And  whoever  trod  it  washed  his  hands  of  life. 
For  in  this  path,  which  was  slender  as  a  hair, 
There  appeared  no  means  of  again  coming  down. 
When  I  arrived  at  the  rocky  mound  of  the  summit, 
I  was  in  an  utter  strait  from  the  straitness  of  the  way. 
All    that    I    beheld    on    the    side  which  I  had  seen  tore  my 

heart  to  pieces, 

And  my  judgment  was  annihilated  by  its  perilous  aspect. 
But  on  the  other  side  the  way  was  without  a  blemish, 
Delight  upon  delight,  garden  upon  garden, 
Full  of  fruit,  and  verdure,  and  water,  and  roses; 

(311) 


312  PERSIAN  AND 

The  whole  region  resounding  with  the  melody  of  birds, 

The  air  soft,  and  the  landscape  so  charming, 

That  you  might  say,  God  had  granted  its  every  wish. 

On  this  side  all  was  life  and  beauty, 

On  the  other  side  all  was  disturbance  and  ruin; 

Here  was  Paradise,  there  the  semblance  of  Hell  — 

Who  would  come  to  Hell  and  desert  Paradise? 

Think  of  that  desert  through  which  we  wended, 

Look  whence  we  came,  and  at  what  we  have  arrived ! 

Who  would  have  the  heart  from  this  lovely  spot 

Again  to  set  a  foot  in  that  intricate  track? 

Here  I  remain,  King,  and  bid  thee  adieu; 

And  mayst  thou  be  happy  as  I  am  happy !  * 


ARABIAN   POEMS  313 


THE  EYE  OF  CHARITY 

ONE  evening  Jesus  lingered  in  the  market-place, 
Teaching  the  people  parables  of  truth  and  grace, 
When  in  the  square  remote  a  crowd  was  seen  to  rise, 
And  stop  with  loathing  gestures  and  abhorring  cries. 

The  Master  and  his  meek  disciples  went  to  see 
What  cause  for  this  commotion  and  disgust  could  be, 
And  found  a  poor  dead  dog  beside  the  gutter  laid; 
Revolting  sight !    at  which  each  face  its  hate  betrayed. 

One  held  his  nose,  one  shut  his  eyes,  one  turned  away ; 
And  all  among  themselves  began  aloud  to  say, — 
(<  Detested  creature !  he  pollutes  the  earth  and  air !  B 
<(  His  eyes  are  blear !  M     (<  His  ears  are  foul !  >J     <(  His  ribs  are 
bare ! » 

<(  In  his  torn  hide  there's  not  a  decent  shoe-string  left !  n 
"  No  doubt  the  execrable  cur  was  hung  for  theft !  w 
Then  Jesus  spake,  and  dropped  on  him  this  saving  wreath, — 
<(  Even  pearls  are  dark    before  the  whiteness  of  his  teeth !  * 

The  pelting  crowd  grew  silent  and  ashamed,  like  one 
Rebuked  by  sight  of  wisdom  higher  than  his  own ; 
And  one  exclaimed,   "No  creature  so  accursed  can  be, 
But  some  good  thing  in  him  a  loving  eye  will  see." 


RUMI 

JELALBDDIN  was  born  at  Balkh  in  1207,  but  in  childhood 
was  taken  to  Asia  Minor,  where  he  succeeded  his  father  as 
head  of  a  college  in  Iconium.  Asia  Minor  was  then  and  is 
still  called  by  the  Mohammedans  Rum  (or  Roum),  as  hav- 
ing been  part  of  the  Roman  Empire.  Jelaleddin,  from  his 
residence  there,  obtained  the  surname  Rumi,  <(  the  Roman. '* 
He  was  converted  to  mysticism  by  a  wandering  Sufi. 
Rumi  is  worshiped  as  a  saint.  His  great  masterpiece  is  the 
"Mesnavi,"  a  collection  of  ethical  and  moral  precepts,  anec- 
dotes, comments  on  verses  of  the  Koran,  and  sayings  of  the 
prophets.  Rumi  died  in  1273. 


THE  MERCHANT  AND  THE  PARROT 

THERE  was  once  a  merchant,   who  had  a  parrot, 
A  parrot  fair  to  view,  confined  in  a  cage ; 

And  when  the  merchant  prepared  for  a  journey, 
He  resolved  to  bend  his  way  toward  Hindustan. 
Every  servant  and  maiden  in  his  generosity 
He  asked,   what  present  he  should  bring  them  home ; 
And  each  one  named  what  he  severally  wished, 
And  to  each  one  the  good  master  promised  his  desire. 
Then  he  said  to  the  parrot,   (<  And  what  gift  wishest    thou, 
That  I  should  bring  to  thee  from  Hindustan  ?  w 
The  parrot  replied,   <(When  thou  seest  the  parrots  there, 
Oh,  bid  them  know  of  my  condition. 
Tell  them,   (  A  parrot,   who  longs  for  your  company, 
Through  Heaven's  decree  is  confined  in  my  cage. 
He  sends  you  his  salutation,   and  demands  his  right, 
And  seeks  from  you  help  and  counsel.' 
He  says,   ( Is  it  right  that  I  in  my  longings 
Should  pine  and  die  in  this  prison  through  separation? 
Is  it  right  that  I  should  be  here  fast  in  this  cage, 
While  you  dance  at  will  on  the  grass  and  the  trees? 

(3i4) 


PERSIAN   AND   ARABIAN   POEMS  315 

Is  this  the  fidelity  of  friends, 

I  here  in  a  prison,  and  you  in  a  grove? 

Oh,  remember,  I  pray  you,  that  bower  of  ours, 

And  our  morning-draughts  in  the  olden  time; 

Oh,  remember  all  our  ancient  friendships, 

And  all  the  festive  days  of  our  intercourse!  * y> 

The  merchant  received  its  message, 

The  salutation  which  he  was  to  bear  to  its  fellows ; 

And  when  he  came  to  the  borders  of  Hindustan, 

He  beheld  a  number  of  parrots  in  the  desert. 

He  stayed  his  horse,   and  he  lifted  his  voice, 

And  he  repeated  his  message,   and    deposited  his  trust ; 

And  one  of  those  parrots  suddenly  fluttered, 

And  fell  to  the  ground,  and   presently  died. 

Bitterly  did  the  merchant  repent  his  words  ; 

(<  I  have  slain, >J  he  cried,   <(  a  living  creature. 

Perchance  this  parrot  and  my  little  bird  were  close  of  kin, 

Their  bodies  perchance  were  two  and  their  souls  one. 

Why  did  I  this  ?   why  gave  I  the  message  ? 

I  have  consumed  a  helpless  victim  by  my  foolish  words ! 

My  tongue  is  as  flint,  and  my  lips  as  steel  ; 

And  the  words  that  burst  from  them  are  sparks  of  fire. 

Strike  not  together  in  thy  folly  the  flint  and  steel, 

Whether  for  the  sake  of  kind  words  or  vain  boasting; 

The  world  around  is  as  a  cotton-field  by  night ; 

In  the  midst  of  cotton,  how  shall  the  spark  do  no  harm  ?  * 

The  merchant  at  length  completed  his  traffic, 
And  he  returned  right  glad  to  his  home  once  more. 
To  every  servant  he  brought  a  present, 
To  every  maiden  he  gave  a  token  ; 
And  the  parrot  said  :   (<  Where   is  my  present  ? 
Tell  all  that  thou  hast  said  and  seen  !  w 
He  answered,   <(  I  repeated  thy  complaints 
To  that  company  of  parrots,  thy  old  companions, 
And  one  of  those  birds,   when  it  inhaled  the  breath  of  thy 

sorrow, 

Broke  its  heart,  and  fluttered,  and  died." 
And  when  the  parrot  heard  what  its   fellow  had  done, 
It  too  fluttered,  and  fell  down,   and  died. 


316  PERSIAN   AND   ARABIAN   POEMS 

When  the  merchant  beheld  it  thus  fall, 

Up  he  sprang,   and  dashed  his  cap  to  the  ground. 

(<  Oh,  alas  !  "  he  cried,   <(  my  sweet  and  pleasant  parrot, 

Companion  of  my  bosom  and  sharer  of  my  secrets  ! 

Oh,  alas  !  alas !  and  again  alas ! 

That  so  bright  a  moon  is    hidden  under  a  cloud  !  * 

After  this  he  threw  its  body  out   of  the  cage  ; 

And  lo  !   the   little  bird  flew  to   a  lofty  bough. 

The  merchant  stood  amazed  at  what  it   had  done ; 

Utterly  bewildered  he   pondered  its  mystery. 

It   answered,    (<  Yon   parrot  taught  me  by  its  action  : 

Escape,*   it  told  me,    *  f rom  speech   and   articulate   voice, 

Since   it   was   thy   voice  that   brought  thee  into   prison ;  * 

And  to  prove  its  own   words  itself  did  die." 

It  then   gave   the  merchant  some  words  of  wise  counsel, 
And   at   last  bade   him  a   long  farewell. 
<(  Farewell,    my  master,   thou   hast   done  me  a   kindness, 
Thou   hast   freed  me   from   the  bond  of  this  tyranny. 
Farewell,   my   master,   I  fly  toward   home  ; 
Thou  shalt  one   day  be  free  like  me !  * 


HAFIZ 

KHWAJA   SHAMS-AD-DIN   MUHAMMAD,    known   as    Hafiz, 

<(the  man    with   the  memory, a  was    born    and    died    in    the 

fourteenth  century.     It  is  to  Hafiz  we  turn  when  searching 

for  the  sweetest  and  most  typical  of  Persian  odes  and  lyrics. 

BE   THINE   OWN  TRUE   FRIEND 

Is  THERE  ought  sweeter  than  the  delights  of  the  garden 
and  companionship  of  the  Spring? 

But  where  is  the  cup-bearer? 

Say  what  is  the  cause  of   his  lingering? 
Every  pleasant  moment  that  cometh  to  your  hand, 

score  up  as  an  invaluable  prize! 

Let  no  one  hesitate, 

for  who  knoweth  the  conclusion  of  the  matter? 
The  tie  of  life  is  but   a  hair!     Use  thine   intelligence ; 

be  thyself  thine  own  comrade  in  sorrow, 

and  what  then  is  the  sorrow 

which  Fate  can  deal  thee? 
The  medium  of  the  Fountain  of   Life 

and  the  Gardens  of  Irem  — 

what  is  it  but  the  enjoyment  of  a  running  stream 

and  a  delicious  wine? 
The  temperate  men  and  the  intemperate  are  both  of  one  tribe  : 

what  choice  is  there  between  them, 

that  we  should  surrender 

our  souls  to  dubious  reasonings? 
What  reveal  the  silent  heavens 

of  that  which  is  behind  the  veil? 

O  litigant, 

why  dispute  with  the  keeper  of  the  Veil? 
If  to  him  who  is  bound  up  in  error  or  sin 

there  is  no  room  for  warning  or  amendment, 

what  meaning  is  there  in  the  words  (t  Canceling, 

and  the  mercy  of  the  Forgiving  One  ? w 
The  devotee  longs  for  draughts  from  the  river  Kuther, 

and  Hafiz  from  a  goblet  of  wine. 

Between  these,  the  will  of  the  Creator  — 

what  would  that  be? 


318  PERSIAN   AND 

In  the  hour  of  dawn  the  bird  of  the  garden  thus  spoke 

to  a  freshly  blown  rose  : 

(<  Be  less  disdainful,  for  in  this  garden 

hath  bloomed  many  a  one  like  thee." 
The  rose  smiled,  and  said, 

<(  We  have  never  grieved  at  hearing  the  truth ; 

but  no  lover  would  speak  so  harshly  to  his  beloved !  w 
To  all  eternity,  the  odor  of  love  will  never  reach 

the  brain  of  that  man    who    hath   never   swept    with 
his  brow 

the  dust  from  the  sill  of  the  wine-house. 
Dost  thou  desire  to  drink  the  ruby-tinted  wine 

from  that  gold-begemmed  goblet, 

how  many  a  pearl  must  thou  first  pierce 

with  the  point  of  thine  eyelashes! 
Yesterday,   when  in  the  Rose  Garden  of  Irem 

the  morning  breeze  with  its    gentle  breath 

began  to  disturb  the  hair  of  the  spikenard, 
I  exclaimed,   <(  O  throne  of  Jemshid, 

Where  is  thy  magic  world-reflecting  mirror  ?  * 
And  it  replied,   <(Alas!      That  watchful    Fortune    should  be 

slumbering  !  w 
The  words  of  love  are  not   those  that  come    to  the  tongue  : 

O  cup-bearer, 

cut  short  this  asking  and  answering. 

The    tears    of    Hafiz    have    cast    patience    and    wisdom  into 
the  sea: 

how  could  it  be  otherwise? 

The  burning  pangs  of  love  how  could  he  conceal? 


A   SEASON   TO   BE  MERRY 

The  Fast  is  over,  the  Festival  is  come, 

and  hearts  are  lifted    up,  and  the  wine    is    sparkling 
in  the  wine-house, 

and  wine  we  must  drink! 
The  turn  of  the  heavy  dealer  in  abstinence  is  past, 

the  season  of  joy  is  arrived, 

and  of  joyous  revelers! 


ARABIAN   POEMS  319 

Why  should  reproach  be  heaped  upon  him, 

who  like  me  quaffeth  wine? 

This  is  neither  sin  or  fault  in  the  jovial  lover! 
The  drinker  of  wine, 

in  whom  is  no  false  show  and  no  dissimulation 

is  better  than   he  who  is  a  trader  in  semblances. 
We  are  neither  dissembling  revelers 

nor  the  comrades  of  hypocrites  : 

He  who  is  the    knower  of   all  secrets    knoweth   this. 
We  discharge  all  our  Divine  obligations 

and  do  evil  to  no  man ; 

and  whatever  we  are  told  is  not  right, 

we  say  not  that  it  is  right. 
What  mattereth  it, 

that  thou  and  I  should  quaff  a  few  goblets  of  wine? 

Wine  is  the  blood  of    the    vine ; 

it  is   not    thy    blood ! 
This    is    not   a    fault    which  throweth  all  into  confusion ; 

and  were    it    a    fault, 

where    is    the    man    to    be    found  who    is    free    from 

faults? 
Hafiz,  leave  thou  the  (<  How  *  and  the   (<  Wherefore,® 

and  drink  for  a  moment  thy  wine  : 

His  wisdom  hath  withholden    from  us 

what  is  the  force  of  the  words  (<  How  ®  and  <(  Where- 
fore. » 

I   LOVE   MY   LOVE 

I  have  made  a  compact  with  the  mistress  of  my  soul, 
that  so  long  as  I  have  a  soul  within  my  body 
I  will    hold    as    mine    own    soul   the    well-wishers   of 
her  village. 

In  the  privacy  of   my  breast  I  see  light  from  that  taper  of 

Chighil ; 

splendor  to  mine  eye  and  brightness  to  my  heart 
from  that  moon  of  Khoten. 

Since  in  accordance  with  my  wishes  and  yearnings 
I  have  gained  the  privacy  of  my  breast, 
why  need  I  care  for  the  slander  of  evil  speakers 
in  the    midst    of   the    crowd? 


320  PERSIAN  AND 

If  a  hundred  armies  of   lovely  ones  should  be  lying  in  am- 
bush 

to  assault  my  heart, 

I  have,  by  the  mercy  and  to  the  praise  of  heaven, 

an  idol  which  will  shatter  armies  into  pieces. 
Would  to  heaven,  my  rival,  that  this  night 

thou  wouldest  close  thine  eye  for  a  while, 

that  I  might  whisper  a    hundred  words  to    her  silent 

ruby  lips! 
No   inclination    have  I    for   tulip,    or   white    rose, 

or  the  leaf  of  the  narcissus, 

so  long  as    by    Heaven's    grace 

I  walk  proudly  in  the  rose  garden  of  her  favor. 

0  mine  ancient  wise  one, 

lay   not   thy    prohibition    on    the   wine-house ; 
for   abandoning   the    wine-cup, 
I   should   break   a  pledge   to   mine   own   heart. 
My   beverage    is   easy    of    digestion, 

and   my   love    is    beautiful    as   a    picture ; 

no   one    hath    a    love  —  such    a   love    as    I   have! 

1  have  a    Cypress    in    my    dwelling, 

under    the    shade    of    whose    tall    statue 

I   can    dispense    with    the  cypress    of   the    grove, 

and   the  box-tree    of   the    meadow. 
I   can    boast    that   the    seal   of   her    ruby   lip 

is    potent    as    was    that    of   Solomon : 

in    possession    of    the    Great  Name, 

why   should    I   dread   the    Evil    One! 
After    long  abstinence, 

Hafiz    is  become    a    notorious    reveler; 

but   why    grieve, 

so   long   as    there   is   in    the    world    an    Emin-ad-Din 

Hassan! 
Spring   is  come    again, 

and   the    joy-exciting    and    vow-breaking    rose ; 

In    the    delight    of  gazing  on  the    cheek   of   the  rose, 

tear   up    the    root    of   sorrow    from    thy    heart! 
The   soft   east    wind   is   arrived ; 

the    rosebud    in    its    passion 

hath    burst    forth    and    torn    its   own    garment. 


ARABIAN   POEMS  321 

Learn,    O    my    heart,  the    way   of    sincerity 

from    the    clear    water; 

in    uprightness   seek    freedom 

from    the   cypress    of   the    meadow. 
The    bride    of   the   rosebud, 

with    her   jewels    and    sweet    smile, 

hath    stolen  away    with    her    black    eye 

my    heart    and    my    religion. 
The    warbling   of   the    enamored    nightingale, 

and   the    piping    of   the    bird  of    the  thousand    notes, 

come  to    enjoy  the  meeting  with    the    rose 

from  her  house  of   mourning   [z.  e.,  her  pod]. 
See  how  the  gentle  breeze  hath  entwined  with  his  hand 

the  ringlets  of  the  rose  ! 

Look  how  the  plaited   locks  of  the  hyacinth 

bend  over  the  face  of  the  jessamine! 
The  story  of  the  revolving  sphere 

seek  to  learn  from  the  cup,    O  Hafiz  ! 

as    the  voice    of  the  minstrel 

and  the  judgment  of  the  wise  advise  thee! 

MY   HEART  HATH   ITS   WINGS 

The  bird  of  my  heart  is  a  sacred   bird, 

whose  nest  is  the  throne    of  God : 

sick  of  its   cage  of  the  body, 

it  is    satiated  with  the  things  of   the  world. 
If   once  the  bird  of  the  spirit 

wingeth  its  flight  from  this  pit   of  mire, 

it  findeth  its  resting  place  once  more 

only  at    the  door  of  that  palace ; 
And    when  the  bird  of  my  heart  flieth  upward, 

its  place  is  the  sidrah-tree ; 

for  know  that    our  falcon   reposeth  only 

on  the    pinnacle  of  the  throne. 
The    shadow  of  good  fortune  falleth  upon  the  world, 

whenever  our  bird  spreadeth 

its  pinions  and    feathers  over  the   earth. 
In  both    worlds  its  station 

is    only  in  the   loftiest    sphere ; 
21 


3«  PERSIAN  AND 

its  body  is  from  the    quarry, 

but  its    soul    is  confined  to  no   dwelling. 
Only   the    highest  heaven 

is  the  sacred  bower  of  our  bird ; 

its  drinking- place 

is  in  the   rose  arbors  of   the    Garden   of   Paradise. 
O    Hafiz,  thou    perplexed  one, 

when   thou    breathest   a    word    about    Unity, 

inscribe    Unity    with    thy    reed 

on   the    page  of   man  and   spirit. 


ARABIAN   POEMS  323 


LOVE'S  LANGUISHMENT 

FROM  the  garden  of  union  with  thee, 
(even)  the  garden  of  Rizvan   (Paradise)  gain  lustre 

of  joy; 

From  the  torment  of  separation  from  thee, 
(even)   hell's  flame  hath    torment. 

In  the  beauty  of  thy  cheek  and  stature, 

shelter  have  taken  Paradise  and  the  tuba  (tree). 
For  them,  it   (the  shelter)   is  good; 

and  a  good  place  of  returning  (from  this  world). 

All  night  (even)  as  my  eye  (seeth, 

so)  the  stream  of  Paradise 
Seeth  in  sleep 

the  image  of  thy  intoxicated  eye  (of  mercy). 

In  every  season, 

spring  giveth  description  of  thy  beauty ; 
In  every  book, 

Paradise  maketh  mention  of  thy  grace. 

This  heart  consumed, 

and  my  soul  attained  not  to  the  heart's  desire; 
If  it  has  attained  to  its  desire, 

it  would  not  have  poured  forth  blood  (of  grief). 

Oh,  many  the  salt-rights  of  thy  lip  and  mouth, 
Which  they  have  against  rent  livers  and  roast  hearts. 

Think  not  that  in  thy  circle   (only) 

lovers  are  intoxicated   (with  love  for  thee)  : 

Of  the  state  of  zahids  distraught   (with  love) 
no  news  hast  thou. 


324  PERSIAN   AND 

By  the  circle  of  thy   (ruddy)   lip  in  thy  face, 

resplendent  as  the  sun, 
I  knew  that  the  jewel   (lustre)  of  the  ruby 

was  produced  by  the  sun,  world-illuminating. 

Open  the  veil. 

This  modesty  how  long  wilt  thou  practice? 
With  this  veil, 

what  hast  thou  bound  save  modesty? 

The  rose  beheld  thy  face, 

and  fell  into  the  fire  (of  love), 
Perceived  thy  fragrance, 

and  through  shame,   became   (soft  and  fragrant 

like)   rose  water. 

In  love  for  thy  face, 

Hafiz  is  immersed  in  the  sea  of  calamity. 
Behold  he  dieth! 

Come  once!   Help! 

Hafiz!   that  life  should  pass  in  folly,   permit  not; 
Strive ;  and  understand  the   value  of  dear  life. 

LOVE'S   ECSTASY 

(When)   the  rose  is  in  the  bosom, 

wine  in  the  hand, 
And  the  beloved  to  my  desire, — 

on  such  a  day,  the  world's  Sultan  is  my  slave. 

Say,  into  this  assembly  bring  ye  no  candle  for  to-night. 
In  our  assembly  the  moon  of  the  Friend's  face  is  full. 

In  our  order  (of  profligates) 

the  wine-cup  is  lawful ; 
But  O  Cypress,  rose  of  body! 

without  thy  face   (presence),  unlawful. 


ARABIAN   POEMS  325 

In  our  assembly   (of  lovers), 

mix  not   its  (perfume)  ; 
For  our  soul  every  moment  receiveth  perfume 

from  the  fragrance  of  the  tip  of  thy  tress. 

My  ear  is  all   (intent)  on  the  voice  of  the  reed 

and   the    melody    of   the  harp   (the  instrument  of  the 
Murshid)  ; 

My  eye  is  all   (intent)   on  thy  ruby  lip, 
and  on  the  circulation  of  the  cup 

(The  manifestations  of  glories  of  God  in  the  night  season). 

Say  ye  naught  of  the  sweetness  of  candy  and  sugar 

(the  delights  of  the  world)  ; 
For  my  desire  is  for  thy  sweet  lip 

(the  sweet  stream  of  Divine  grace, 

the  source  of  endless  delight). 

From  the  time  when  the  treasure  of  grief 

for  thee  was  dweller  in  my  ruined  heart, 
The  corner  of  the  tavern  is  ever  my  abode. 

Of  shame  why  speakest  thou? 

For  from  shame  is  my  name   (renown); 
Of  name   (renown)   why  askest  thou? 

For  from  name   (renown)   is  my  shame. 

Wine-drinker,   distraught  of  head, 

profligate,  and  glance-player,  I  am : 
In  this  city,   who  is  that  one 

who  is  not  like  this? 

To  the  Muhtasib,  utter  not  my  crime; 

for  he  also 
Is  ever  like  me 

in  desire  of  the  drinkers  of  wine. 

Hafiz !   sit  not  a  moment  without  wine 

and  the  beloved. 
'Tis  the  season  of  the  rose,  and  of  the  jessamine, 

and  of  the  'Id  of  (Siyam) ! 


326  PERSIAN   AND 


LOVE'S   LIGHT  ECLIPSED 

Without  the  beloved's  face,  the  rose —  is  not  pleasant. 

Without  wine,  spring —  is  not  pleasant. 

The  border  of  the  sward  and  the  air  of  the  garden 
Without  the   (beloved  of)   tulip  cheek —        is  not  pleasant. 

With  the  beloved,   sugar  of  lip,  rose  of  body, 

(To  be)   without  kiss  and  embrace —  is  not  pleasant. 

The  dancing  of  the  cypress,   and  the  rapture  of  the  rose, 
Without  the  song  of  the  hazar —  is  not  pleasant. 

Every  picture  that  reason's  hand  depicteth, 

Save  the  picture  of  the   (living  beauteous)   idol  — 

is  not  pleasant. 

The  garden  and  the  rose  and  wine   (all)   is  pleasant ;  but 
Without  the  beloved's  society,  —  is  not  pleasant. 

Hafiz!  the  soul  is   (but)   a  despicable  coin; 

For  scattering   (on  the  true  beloved)   it —      is  not  pleasant. 

LOVE— WAS 

That    friend    by    whom  our  house  the   (happy)  dwelling  of 

the  Pari —  was, 

Head  to  foot,  free  from  defect,  a  Pari —  was. 

Acceptable  to  the   (All)   Wise  of  mine  (is)  that  moon. 

For  his, 
With  beauty  of  manner,   the  way  of  one  endowed 

with  vision —  was. 

(My)  heart  said,   (<  I  hope  of  her,  in  this  city  I  will  sojourn;* 
Helpless,  it  knew  not  that  its  friend  a  traveler —  was. 


ARABIAN  POEMS  327 

Out  from  my  grasp  the  malignant  star  plucked  her: 
Yes :    what    can    I    do  ?     The    calamity   of  the  revolution  of 
the  moon  it  —  was. 

Not  only  from  my  heart's  mystery  fell  the  screen ; 
Since  the  sky  (time)   was,  screen-rendering  its  habit — was. 

Sweet  was  the  marge  of  the  water,  and    the    rose    and    the 

verdure.     But 
Alas,  that  moving  treasure  a  wayfarer —  was. 

Happy  were  those  times  which  passed  with  the  friend; 
All  without  result  and  without  knowledge  the  rest —  was. 

The  bulbul  (the  true  lover)  slew  himself  through  jealousy 
of  this,  that  to  the  rose  (the  true  beloved) 

At  morning-time  (the  last  breath  of  life),  with  the  morn- 
ing breeze  (the  angel  of  death),  splendor  (of  heav- 
enly messages)  —  was 

O  heart!  establish  an  excuse.      For  thou  art  a  beggar;  and 

here, 
In  the  kingdom  of  beauty,  the  head  of  a  crowned  one — was. 

Every  treasure  of  happiness  that  God  gave  to  Hafiz, 
From  the  auspiciousness  of  the  evening  prayer    and    of   the 
morning  supplication  —  was. 


DJAMI 

NURUDDIN  ABDURRAHAMAN,  Persia's  last  poet  of  the  first 
rank,  was  born  in  1414,  and  was  called  Djami  from  the 
place  of  his  birth.  His  works  are  seven  mystical  poems  and 
the  famous  poetical  romance  of  Joseph  and  the  wife  of 
Potiphar,  (<  Yusuf  and  Zulaikha,*  from  which  the  following 
are  taken  :  — 

BEAUTY   AND   LOVE 

BEFORE  eternity  to  time  had  shrunken, 
The  Friend  [God]  deep  in  his  glorious  self  was  sunken. 

Around  his  charms  a  firm-bound  girdle  hovered  : 
No  one  the  lonely  path  to  him  discovered. 
A  mirror  held  he  to  each  wondrous  feature, 
But  shared  the  vision's  bliss  with  not  a  creature. 
In  cradling  Naught's  abyss  alone  he  rocked  him, 
No  playmate's  face  or  gambols  sportive  mocked  him. 
Then  rose  He  up  —  swift  vanished  all  resistance  — 
And  gave  the  boundless  universe  existence. 
Now  Beauty,  sun-clear,  from  his  right  side  beameth; 
Love,  moon-light,   quickly  from  his  left  side  gleameth. 
When  Beauty's  flame  lights  up  the  cheek's  red  roses, 
Love  fans  a  fire  from  which    no  heart  reposes. 
Between  them  glows  a  league  which  forms  no  cinder, 
But  from  all  Beauty's  food  creates  Love's  tinder. 
When  Beauty  'midst  her  snaring  ringlets  lieth, 
Then  Love  the  heart  within  those  fair  locks  tieth. 
A  nest  is  Beauty,  Love  the  brooding  linnet : 
A  mine  is  Beauty,   Love  the  diamond  in  it. 
From  God's  two  sides  they  came,  twin  emanation, 
To  chase  and  woo  each  other  through  creation. 
But  in  each  atom's  point,  both,   clasping,  enter, 
And  constitute  all  being's  blissful  centre. 

(328) 


PERSIAN   AND   ARABIAN   POEMS  329 


ZULAIKHA 

THERE  was  a  king  in  the  West.     His  name, 
Taimus,  was  spread  wide  by  the  drum  of  fame. 
Of  royal  power  and  wealth  possessed, 
No  wish  unanswered  remained  in  his  breast. 
His  brow  gave  lustre  to  glory's  crown, 
And  his  foot  gave  the  thrones  of  the  mighty  renown. 
With  Orion  from  heaven  his  host  to  aid, 
Conquest  was  his  when  he  bared  his  blade. 
His  child  Zulaikha  was  passing  fair, 
None  in  his  heart  might  with  her  compare ; 
Of  his  royal  house  the  most  brilliant  star, 
A  gem  from  the  chest  where  the  treasures  are. 
Praise  cannot  equal  her  beauty,  no ; 
But  its  faint,   faint  shadow  my  pen  may  show. 
Like  her  own  bright  hair  falling  loosely  down, 
I  will  touch  each  charm  to  her  feet  from  her  crown. 
May  the  soft  reflection  of  that  bright  cheek, 
Lend  light  to  my  spirit  and  bid  me  speak, 
And  that  flashing  ruby,   her  mouth,  bestow 
The  power  to  tell  of  the  things  I  know. 

Her  stature  was  like  to  a  palm-tree  grown 

In  the  garden  of  grace  where  no  sin  is  known. 

Bedewed  by  the  love  of  her  father  the  king, 

She  mocked  the  cypress  that  rose  by  the  spring. 

Sweet  with  the  odor  of  musk,  a  snare 

For  the  heart  of  the  wise  was  the  maiden's  hair. 

Tangled  at  night,  in  the  morning  through 

Her  long  thick  tresses  a  comb  she  drew, 

And  cleft  the  heart  of  the  musk-deer  in  twain 

As  for  that  rare  odor  he  sighed  in  vain. 

A  dark  shade  fell  from  her  loose  hair  sweet 

As  jasmine  over  the  rose  of  her  feet. 

A  broad  silver  tablet  her  forehead  displayed 

For  the  heaven-set  lessons  of  beauty  made. 


330  PERSIAN  AND 

Her  face  was  the  garden  of  Iram,   where 

Roses  of  every  hue  are  fair. 

The  dusky  moles  that  enhanced  the  red 

Were  like  Moorish  boys  playing  in  each  rose -bed. 

Of  silver  that  paid  no  tithe,   her  chin 

Had  a  well  with  the  Water  of  Life  therein. 

If  a  sage  in  his  thirst  came  near  to  drink, 

He  would  feel  the  spray  ere  he  reached  the  brink, 

But  lost  were  his  soul  if  he  nearer  drew, 

For  it  was  a  well  and  a  whirlpool  too. 

Her  neck  was  of  ivory.     Thither  drawn, 

Came  with  her  tribute  to  beauty  the  fawn ; 

And  the  rose  hung  her  head  at  the  gleam  of  the  skin 

Of  shoulders  fairer  than  jessamine. 

Her  breasts  were  orbs  of  a  light  more   pure, 

Twin  bubbles  new  risen  from  fount  Kafur: 

Two  young  pomegranates  grown  on  one  spray, 

Where  bold  hope  never  a  finger  might  lay. 

The  touchstone  itself   was  proved  false  when  it  tried 

Her  arms'  fine  silver  thrice  purified ; 

But  the  pearl-pure  amulets  fastened  there 

Were  the  hearts  of  the  holy  absorbed  in  prayer. 

The  loveliest  gave  her   their  souls  for  rue, 

And  round  the  charm  their  own  heartstrings  drew. 

Her  arms  filled  her  sleeves  with  silver  from  them 

Whose  brows  are  bound  with  the  diadem. 

To  labor  and  care  her  soft  hand  lent  aid, 

And  to  wounded  hearts  healing  unction  laid. 

Like  reeds  were  those  taper  fingers  of  hers, 

To  write  on  each  heart  love's  characters. 

Each  nail  on  those  fingers  so  long  and    slim 

Showed  a  new  moon  laid  on  a  full  moon's  brim, 

And  her  small  closed  hand  made  the  moon  confess 

That  she  never  might  rival  its  loveliness. 

Two  columns  fashioned  of  silver  upheld 

That  beauty  which  never  was  paralleled, 

And  to  make  the  tale  of  her  charms  complete, 

They  were  matched  by  the  shape  of  her  exquisite  feet. 

Feet  so  light  and  elastic  no  maid  might  show, 

So  perfectly  fashioned  from  heel  to  toe. 


ARABIAN   POEMS  331 

The  hem  of  her  mantle  alone  might  gain 
A  kiss  of  that  foot,   while  kings  sought  it  in  vain ; 
And  no  hand  but  the  fold  of  her  robe  embraced 
The  delicate  stem  of  her  dainty  waist. 

Maidens  like  cypresses  straight  and  tall, 

With  Peri  faces,  obeyed  her  call ; 

And  by  day  and  by  night  in  her  service  stood 

The  Houris'   loveliest  sisterhood. 

No  burden  as  yet  had  her  sweet  soul  borne ; 

Never  her  foot  had  been  pierced  by  a  thorn. 

No  breath  of  passion  her  heart  might  stir, 

And  to  love  and  be  loved  was  unknown  to  her. 

Like  the  languid  Narcissus  she  slept  at  night, 

And  hailed  like  an  opening  bud  the  light. 


332  PERSIAN  AND 


YUSUF    SOLD    BY    HIS    BRETHREN 

THE  brothers  had  lingered  not  far  from  the  well, 
And  they  burned  in  their  hearts  to  know  what  befell ; 
They  saw  the  merchants  arrive,  and  stood 
Waiting  for  news  in  the  neighborhood. 
To  Yusuf  they  called  with  a  secret  cry, 
But  a  hollow  echo  came  back  in  reply. 
To  the  caravan  with  quick  steps,   intent 
On  claiming  the  boy  as  their  slave,   they  went, 
And  with  toil  and  labor  they  made   their  way 
Within  the  ring  where  the  merchants  lay. 
(< This  is  our  slave, M  as  they  touched  him,  they  cried; 
(<  The  collar  of  service  his  hand  has  untied. 
The  bonds  of  his  duty  were  loosened,  and  he 
From  the  yoke  of  his  masters  had  dared  to  flee. 
Though  born  in  our  house  we  will  gladly  sell 
The  idle  boy  who  will  never  do  well. 
When  a  slave  is  negligent,   idle,   perverse, 
Ever  growing  from  bad  to  worse, 
'Tis  better  to  sell  him,  though  small  the  price, 
Than  suffer  still  from  his  rooted  vice. 
We  will  labor  no  more  to  improve  the  wretch, 
But  sell  him  at  once  for  the  price  he  may  fetch.* 
He  was  sold  for  a  trifle  to  him  whose  cord 
Had  brought  him  up  to  the  light  restored. 
Malik  —  so  named  was  the   merchant  —  gave 
A  few  pieces  for  Yusuf  as   household  slave. 
Then  the  traders  arising  their  march  renewed, 
And  onward  to  Egypt  their  way  pursued. 

Woe  unto  those  who  that  treasure  sold, 

And  bartered  their  souls  for   some  paltry  gold ! 

No  life,   nor  the  treasures  of  Egypt,   could  buy 

One  word  from  his  lip  or  one  glance  from  his  eye. 

Only  Jacob  his  sire  and  Zulaikha,   the   true, 

The  priceless  worth  of  that  treasure  knew. 

But  his  worth   was  unknown  to  those  blinded  eyes, 

And  they  took  a  few  pence  for  the  blessed  prize. 


ARABIAN   POEMS  333 


YUSUF'S    FLIGHT 

ZULAIKHA  had  seen  Yusuf  in  a  vision  and    had  fallen  in 
love  with  him.     After  refusing  many  princely  suitors, 
she  was  married  to  the  Grand  Vizier  of  Egypt.     Later 
she  purchased  in  the  slave  market  the  beloved  youth  of  her 
dreams  and  brought  him  to  her  palace.     Finally  she  declared 
her  love. 


She  told  her  love,   and  her  sorrow  woke 

With  a  pang  renewed  at  each  word  she  spoke. 

But  Yusuf  looked  not  upon  her  :  in  dread 

He  lowered  his  eyes  and  he  bent  his  head. 

As  he  looked  on  the  ground  in  a  whirl  of  thought 

He  saw  his  own  form  on  the  carpet  wrought, 

Where  a  bed  was  figured  of  silk  and  brocade, 

And  himself  by  the  side  of  Zulaikha  laid. 

From  the  pictured  carpet  he  looked  in  quest 

Of  a  spot  where  his  eye  might,   untroubled,   rest. 

He  looked  on  the  wall,   on  the  door;  the  pair 

Of  rose -lipped  lovers  was  painted  there. 

He  lifted  his  glance  to  the  Lord  of  the  skies  : 

That  pair  from  the  ceiling  still  met  his  eyes. 

Then  the  heart  of  Yusuf  would  fain  relent, 

And  a  tender  look  on  Zulaikha  he  bent, 

While  a  thrill  of  hope  through  her  bosom  passed 

That  the  blessed  sun  would  shine  forth  at  last. 

The  hot  tears  welled  from  her  heart  to  her  eyes, 

And  she  poured  out  her  voice    in  a  storm  of  sighs. 

<(  Fair  daughter, »  said  he,   <(  of  the  Peri  race  — 
But  no  Peri  can  match  thee  in  form  or  face  — 
Tempt  me  no  more  to  a  deed  of   shame, 
Nor  break  the  fair  glass  of  a  stainless  name. 
Drag  not  my  skirt  through  the  dust  and  mire, 
Nor  fill  my  veins  with  unholy  fire. 
By  the  Living  God,  the  great  soul  of  all, 
Inner  and  outward,  and  great  and  small, 


334  PERSIAN   AND 

From  whose  ocean  this  world  like  a  bubble  rose, 

And  the  sun  by  the  flash  of  His  splendor  glows ; 

By  the  holy  line  of  my  fathers,   whence 

I  have  learned  the  fair  beauty  of  innocence; 

From  whom  I  inherit   my  spirit's  light, 

And  through  them  is  the  star  of  my  fortune  bright; 

If  thou  wilt  but  leave  me  this  day  in  peace, 

And  my  troubled  soul  from  this  snare  release, 

Thou  shalt  see  thy  servant  each  wish  obey, 

And  with  faith  unshaken  thy  grace  repay. 

The  lips  of  thy  darling  to  thine  shall  be  pressed, 

And  the  arms  that  thou  lovest  shall  lull  thee  to  rest. 

Haste  not  too  fast  to  the  goal :  delay 

Is  often  more  blessed  than  speed  on  the  way, 

And  the  first  paltry  capture  is  ever  surpassed 

By  the  nobler  game  that  is  netted  at  last.w 

Zulaikha  answered:   <(Ah,  never  think 

That  the  thirsty  will  wait  for  the  morrow  to  drink. 

My  spirit  has  rushed  to  my  lips,  and  how 

Can  I  wait  for  the  joy  that  I  long  for  now? 

My  heart  has  no  power  to  watch  and  wait 

For  the  tender  bliss  that  will  come  so  late. 

Thy  pleading  is  weak,  and  no  cause  I  see 

Why  thou  shouldst  not  this  moment  be  happy  with  me.* 

Then  Yusuf  answered  :   <(  Two  things  I  fear  — 
The  judgment  of  God  and  the  Grand  Vizier. 
If  the  master  knew  of  the  shameful  deed, 
With  a  hundred  sorrows  my  heart  would  bleed. 
Full  well  thou  knowest  my  furious  lord 
Would  strike  me  dead  with  his  lifted  sword. 
And  think  of  the  shame  that  the  sin   would  lay 
On  my  guilty  soul  at  the  Judgment  day, 
When  the  awful  book  is  unclosed  wherein 
Recording  angels  have  scored  my  sin.*    .   .   . 

One  nook  of  the  chamber  was  dark  with  the  shade 
Of  a  curtain  that  glittered  with  gold  brocade. 
And  Yusuf  questioned  her :   <(  What  or  who 
Is  behind  the  curtain  concealed  from  view?" 


ARABIAN  POEMS  335 

<(  It  is  he,*'  she  answered,   w  to  whom,   while  I  live, 

My  faithful  service  I  still  must  give  : 

A  golden  idol  with  jeweled  eyes  — 

A  salver  of  musk  in  his  bosom  lies. 

I  bend  before  him  each  hour  of  the  day, 

And  my  head  at  his  feet  in  due  worship  lay. 

Before  his  presence  this  screen  I  drew 

To  be  out  of  the  reach  of  his  darkened  view. 

If  I  swerve  from  religion   I  would  not  be 

Where  the  angry  eyes  of  my  god  may  see.* 

And  Yusuf  cried  with  a  bitter  cry: 

<(  Not  a  mite  of  the  gold  of  thy  faith  have  I. 

Thine  eye  is  abashed  before  those  that  are  dead, 

And  shrinks  from  the  sight  of  the  lifeless  in  dread. 

And  God  Almighty  shall  I  not  fear, 

Who  liveth  and  seeth  and  ever  is  near  ?  * 

He  ceased:  from  the  fond  dream  of  rapture  he  woke; 

From  the  arms  of  Zulaikha  he  struggled  and  broke. 

With  hasty  feet  from  her  side  he  sped, 

And  burst  open  each  door  on  his  way  as  he  fled. 

Bolt  and  bar  from  the  stanchions  he  drew  — 

All  opened  before  him  as  onward  he  flew. 

Of  his  lifted  finger  a  key  was  made, 

Which  every  lock  at  a  sign  obeyed. 

But  Zulaikha  caught  him  with  steps  more  fast, 

Or  ever  the  farthest  chamber  he  passed. 

She  clutched  his  skirt  as  he  fled  amain, 

And  the  coat  from  his  shoulder  was  rent   in  twain. 

Reft  of  his  garment,  he  slipped  from  her  hand 

Like  a  bud  from  its  sheath  when  the  leaves  expand. 

She  rent  her  robe  in  her  anguish ;    low 

On  the  earth,  like  a  shadow,  she  lay  in  her  woe. 


336  PERSIAN  AND 


THE   WIDOW'S   LAMENT 

A  HAPLESS  bird  was  Zulaikha.     She  pined 
In  the  narrow  cage  of  the  world  confined. 
Befriended  by  fortune,   in  pride  and  power, 
When  a  rose-bed  bloomed  in  her  secret  bower; 
With  her  lord  beside  her  to  shade  and  screen 
The  tender  plant  when  her  bud  was  green  — 
With  all  dainty  things,   if  she  cared  but  to  speak; 
When  no   lamp  was  so    bright  as    her  youthful   cheek : 
Yusuf  e'en  then  her  whole  heart  possessed  — 
The  sweet  name  on  her  lips,  the  dear  hope  in  her  breast. 
Now,  when  from  her  side  her  protector  was  reft, 
When  nought  of   her  rank  and    her  treasures    was  left, 
The  sole  friend  of  her  heart,  who  ne'er  changed  his  place, 
Was  the  sweet  remembrance  of  Yusuf 's  face. 
She  thought  of  him  ever;    her  sad  house  seemed 
Her  dear  fatherland  when  of  him  she  dreamed. 
No  food  could  she  eat,   and  she  closed  not  her  eyes ; 
She  wept  tears  of  blood  and  she  said  with  sighs:  — 
(<  Beloved  Yusuf,   where,   where  art  thou? 
Why  false  and  faithless  to  pledge  and  vow? 
Oh,  that  again  those  sweet  hours  I  might  see, 
When  one  happy  home  held  my  love  and  me! 
When  no  fear  of  parting  could  mar  delight, 
And  I  gazed  on  his  beauty  from  morn  till  night. 
When  stern  fate  robbed  me  of   this  sweet  joy, 
I  sent  to  the  prison  that   innocent  boy. 
Unseen  by  night  to  his   presence  I  stole, 
And  the  sight  of  his  cheek  was  as  balm  to  my  soul ; 
And  a  glance  at  the  walls  where  my  darling  lay 
Rubbed  the  rust  of  grief  from  my  heart  by  day. 
No  joy  is  now  left  me,  no  solace  like  these ; 
My  heart  and  frame  perish  of  pain  and  disease. 
All  I  have  left  is  the  image  which  still, 
Where'er  I  may  be,  this  sad  bosom  must  fill. 
The  soul  of  this  frame  is   that  image,  and  I 
Bereft  of  its  presence,  should  languish  and  die.* 


ARABIAN   POEMS  337 

Then  her  breast  and  her  heart  she  would  fiercely  tear, 

And  engrave  the  form  of   her  darling  there. 

She  would  strike  her  soft  knee  with  her  hand  till  the  blue 

Of  the  lotus  supplanted  the  jasmine's  hue. 

<{  I  am  worthy  the  love  of  my  love,"  she  would  cry, 

(<  For  my  love  is  the  sun  and  the  lotus  am  I. 

As  my  love  is  the  lord  of  the  east  and  the  west, 

The  place  of  the  lotus  for  me  is  the  best.* 

22 


AMRIOLKAIS 

THIS  Arabian  poet  flourished  before  the  time  of  Mo- 
hammed. 

A   PERILOUS   TRYST 

WITH  many  a  spotless  virgin,  whose  tent  had  not  yet 
been  frequented,  have  I  held  soft  dalliance  at  per- 
fect leisure. 

To  visit  one  of  them,  I  passed  the  guards  of  her  bower, 
and  a  hostile  tribe,  who  would  have  been  eager  to  proclaim 
my  death. 

It  was  the  hour  when  the  Pleiads  appear  in  the  firma- 
ment like  the  folds  of  a  silken  sash  variously  decked  with 
gems. 

I  approached  :  she  stood  by  the  curtain ;  and  as  if  pre- 
paring for  sleep,  had  put  off  all  her  vesture  but  her  night- 
dress. 

(<  By  Him  who  created  me,"  she  said,  and  gave  me  her 
lovely  hand,  <(  I  am  unable  to  refuse  thee ;  for  I  perceive 
the  blindness  of  thy  passion  is  not  to  be  removed.* 

Then  I  rose  With  her;  and  as  we  walked,  she  drew  over 
our  footsteps  the  train  of  her  pictured  robe. 

As  soon  as  we  had  passed  the  habitations  of  her  tribe, 
and  come  to  the  bosom  of  a  vale,  surrounded  by  hillocks  of 
spiry  sand, 

I  gently  drew  her  toward  me  by  her  curled  locks,  and 
she  softly  inclined  to  my  embrace;  her  waist  was  gracefully 
slender,  and  its  swelling  was  encircled  with  ornaments  of 
gold. 

Delicate  was  her  shape ;  fair  her  skin ;  her  body  well- 
proportioned;  her  bosom  was  as  smooth  as  a  mirror, 

Or   like    the    pure   egg   of   an    ostrich,  of  yellowish    tint 
blended  with  white,  and  nourished  by  a  wholesome  stream 
not  yet  disturbed. 
(338) 


PERSIAN  AND  ARABIAN   POEMS  339 

She  turned  aside  and  displayed  her  soft  cheek ;  she  gave 
a  timid  glance  with  languishing  eyes  like  those  of  a  roe 
looking  tenderly  at  her  young. 

Her  neck  was  like  that  of  a  milk-white  hind,  but  when 
she  raised  it,  exceeded  not  the  justest  symmetry;  nor  was 
the  neck  of  my  beloved  so  unadorned. 

Her  long  black  hair  decorated  her  back,  thick  and  dif- 
fused, like  bunches  of  dates  clustering  on  the  palm-tree. 

Her  locks  were  elegantly  turned  above  her  head ;  and 
the  riband  which  bound  them  was  lost  in  her  tresses,  part 
braided,  part  disheveled. 

She  discovered  a  waist  taper  as  a  well-twisted  cord ;  and 
a  leg  white  and  smooth  as  the  stem  of  a  young  palm,  or 
a  fresh  reed,  bending  over  a  rivulet. 

The  brightness  of  her  face  illumined  the  veil  of  night, 
like  the  evening  taper  of  a  recluse  hermit. 

On  a  girl  like  her,  a  girl  of  moderate  height,  between 
those  who  wear  a  frock  and  those  who  wear  a  gown,  the 
most  bashful  man  must  look  with  an  enamored  eye. 


ZOHAIR 

ZOHAIR  is  one  of  the  <(  Pleiads, )}  a  favorite  poet  of  the 
earlier  period. 

AN   ARAB    CHANT 

How  nobly  did  the  two  descendants  of  Gaidh,  the  son  of 
Morra,  labor  to  unite  the  tribes,  which  a  fatal  effusion 
of  blood  had  long  divided  ! 

I  have  sworn  by  the  sacred  edifice  [the  Kaaba  at  Mecca] , 
round  which  the  sons  of  Koraish  and  Jorham,  who  built  it, 
make  devout  processions ; 

Yes,  I  have  solemnly  sworn  that  I  would  render  due 
praise  to  that  illustrious  pair,  who  have  shown  their  ex- 
cellence in  all  affairs,  simple  and  complicated. 

Noble  chiefs!  you  reconciled  Abs  and  Dhobyan  after  their 
bloody  conflicts ;  after  the  deadly  perfumes  of  Minsham  had 
long  scattered  poison  among  them. 

You  said :  <(  We  will  secure  the  public  good  on  a  firm 
basis ;  whatever  profession  of  wealth  or  exertion  of  virtue 
it  may  demand,  we  will  secure  it." 

Thence  you  raised  a  strong  fabric  of  peace ;  from  which 
all  partial  obstinacy  and  all  criminal  supineness  were  alike 
removed. 

Chiefs,  exalted  in  the  high  ranks  of  Maad,  father  of 
Arabs !  may  you  be  led  into  the  paths  of  felicity  !  The  man 
who  opens  for  his  country  a  treasure  of  glory  should  him- 
self be  glorified. 

They  drove  to  the  tents  of  their  appeased  foes  a  herd  of 
young  camels,  noted  for  the  goodness  of  their  breed,  and 
either  inherited  from  their  fathers  or  the  scattered  prizes  of 
war. 

With  a  hundred  camels  they  closed    all    wounds ;    in    due 
season  were  they  given,  yet  the  givers  were  themselves  free 
from  guilt. 
(340) 


PERSIAN   AND   ARABIAN   POEMS  341 

The  atonement  was  auspiciously  offered  by  one  tribe  to 
the  other;  yet  those  who  offered  it  had  not  shed  one  cup- 
ful of  blood. 

Convey  this  lesson  from  me  to  the  sons  of  Dhobyan,  and 
say  to  the  confederates  :  Have  you  not  bound  yourselves  in 
this  treaty  by  an  indissoluble  tie? 

Attempt  not  .to  conceal  from  God  the  designs  which  your 
bosoms  contain ;  for  that  which  you  strive  to  hide,  God 
perfectly  knows. 

He  sometimes  defers  the  punishment,  but  registers  the 
crime  in  a  volume,  and  reserves  it  for  the  day  of  account ; 
sometimes  He  accelerates  the  chastisement,  and  heavily  it 
falls ! 


ANTARA 

ANTARA,  whose  warlike  career  is  the  theme  of  the  cele- 
brated Arabian  romance,  composed  one  of  the  poems  of  the 
Mo'allakat. 

A    SONG   OF   WAR 

Go  ASK  the  warriors,  O  daughter  of  Malec,  if  thou  art 
ignorant  of  my  valor,  ask  them  that  which  thou 
knowest  not ; 

Ask  how  I  act,  when  I  am  firmly  fixed  in  the  saddle  of 
an  elegant  horse,  swimming  in  his  course,  whom  my  bold 
antagonists  alternately  wound; 

Yet  sometimes  he  advances  alone  to  the  conflict,  and  some- 
times he  stands  collected  in  a  multitudinous  throng  of  heroes 
with  strong  bows ; 

Ask,  and  whoever  has  been  witness  to  the  combat  will 
inform  thee  that  I  am  impetuous  in  battle,  but  regardless  of 
spoils. 

Many  a  warrior,  clad  in  a  suit  of  mail,  at  whose  violent 
assault  the  boldest  men  have  trembled,  who  neither  had 
saved  himself  by  swift  flight  nor  by  abject  submission, 

Has  this  arm  laid  prone  with  a  rapid  blow  from  a  well- 
straightened  javelin,  firm  between  the  knots  : 

Broad  were  the  lips  of  the  wound ;  and  the  noise  of  the 
rushing  blood  called  forth  the  wolves,  prowling  in  the  night, 
and  pinched  with  hunger; 

With  my  swift  lance  did  I  pierce  his  coat-of-mail ;  and 
no  warrior,  however  brave,  is  secure  from  its  point. 

I  left  him,  like  a  sacrificed  victim,  to  the  lions  of  the 
forest,  who  feasted  on  him  between  the  crown  of  his  head 
and  his  wrists. 

The  instructions  which  my  valiant  uncle  gave  me  I  have 
diligently  observed ;    at   the    time  when  the    lips  are  drawn 
away  from  the  bright  teeth. 
(342) 


PERSIAN  AND   ARABIAN   POEMS  343 

In  the  struggle  of  the  fight,  into  whose  deepest  gulfs  the 
warriors  plunge  themselves  without  complaint  or  murmur. 

When  my  tribe  has  placed  me  as  a  shield  between  them 
and  the  hostile  spears,  I  have  not  ignobly  declined  the  dan- 
ger, although  the  place  where  I  fixed  my  foot  was  too  nar- 
row to  admit  a  companion. 


ASADI 

ASADI  or  Essedi  of  Tus  was  the  teacher  of  Firdausi,  and 
yet  survived  his  illustrious  pupil.  He  was  attached  to  the 
court  of  Mahmud.  He  introduced  into  Persian  poetry  the 
form  afterward  called  in  Provencal  literature  the  tenson  or 
dispute,  of  which  a  specimen  is  here  given. 


THE  DISPUTE    OF    DAY    AND    NIGHT 

DAY  and  Night,  who  each  can  yield 
Joy  and  solace  to  the  race, 
Thus  contended  for  the  field, 

Claiming  both  the  highest  place. 
Night  spoke  frowningly  :  <c  'Twas  I 
Who  from  all  eternity 
Ruled  the  chaos  of  the  world, 
When  in  dire  confusion  hurled. 
The  fervent  prayer  is  heard  at  night; 
Devotion  flies  day's  glaring  light. 
'Twas  night,  the  Mount  when  Moses  left; 

At  night  was  Lot  avenged  by  fire ; 
At  night  the  moon  our  Prophet  cleft, 

And  saw  Heaven's  might  revealed  entire. 

"The  lovely  Moon  for  thirty  days 
Spreads  radiant  glory  from  afar  : 

Her  charms  for  ever  Night  displays, 

Crowned  like  a  queen  with  many  a  star. 

Her  seal-bearer  is  Mars ;  a  band 

Of  planets  wait  on  her  command. 

Day  can  but  paint  the  skies  with  blue, 

Night's  starry  hosts  amaze  the  view. 

Man  measures  time  but  by  the  moon  ; 

Night  shrouds  what  Day  reveals  too  soon. 
(344) 


PERSIAN   AND   ARABIAN   POEMS  345 

<(  Day  is  with  toil  and  care  oppressed, 
Night  comes  and,   with  her,  gentle  rest. 
Day,  busy  still,   no  praise  can  bring ; 
All  night  the  saints  their  anthems  sing  ; 
Her  shade  is  cast  by  Gabriel's  wing ! 
The  Moon  is  pure ;  the  Sun's  broad  face 
Dark  and  unsightly  spots  deface. 
The  Sun  shines  on  with  changeless  glare, 
The  Moon  is  ever  new  and  fair." 


Day  rose,  and  smiled  in  high  disdain  : 

<(  Cease  all  this  boasting,   void  and  vain  ; 
The  Lord  of  Heaven  and  earth  and  thee 

Gave  me  a  place  more  proud  than  thine  ; 
And  men  with  joy  my  rising  see, 

And  hail  the  beams  that  round  me  shine. 
The  holy  pilgrim  takes  by  day 
To  many  a  sacred  shrine  his  way  ; 
By  day  the  pious  fast  and  pray, 
And  solemn  feasts  are  held  by  day. 
On  the  Last  Day  the  world's  career  is  run, 
As  on  the  First  its  being  was  begun. 


<(Thou,   Night,  art  friendly,  it  may  be, 
For  lovers  fly  for  help  to  thee. 
When  do  the  sick  thy  healing  see? 

Thieves  by  thy  aid  may  scathless  prowl ; 
Sacred  to  thee  the  bat  and  owl  ; 
And,  led  by  thee,  pale  spectres  grimly  howl! 

<(I  sprang  from  Heaven,  from  dust  art  thou; 

Light  crowns  my  head  with  many  a  gem  ; 
The  collier's  cap  is  on  thy  brow, 

For  thee  a  fitting  diadem. 
My  presence  fills  the  world  with  joy; 
Thou  com'st  all  comfort  to  annoy. 
I  am  a  Moslem  —  white  my  vest ; 
Thou  a  vile  thief,   in  sable  dressed. 


346  PERSIAN   AND   ARABIAN   POEMS 

(<  Out,  negro  face  !  —  dar'st  thou  compare 
Thy  cheeks  with  mine,  so  purely  fair  ? 
Those  hosts  of  stars,  thy  boast  and  pride, 
How  do  they  rush  their  sparks  to  hide, 
How  to  their  native  darkness  run, 
When,  in  his  glory,  comes  the  Sun  ! 

<(  True,    Death  was  first ;  but  tell  me  who 
Thinks  Life  less  worthy  of  the  two  ? 
'Tis  by  the  Moon  the  Arab  counts ; 

The  lordly  Persian  tells  his  year 
By  the  bright  Sun,  that  proudly  mounts 

The  yielding  heavens,  so  wide  and  clear. 
The  Sun  is  ruddy,  strong  and  hale ; 
The  Moon  is  sickly,   wan  and  pale. 
Methinks  'twas  ne'er  in  story  told 
That  silver  had  the  worth  of  gold  ! 
The  Moon,  a  slave,  is  bowed  and  bent, 
She  knows  her  light  is  only  lent ; 
She  hurries  on,  the  way  to  clear, 
Till  the  great  Shah  himself  appear! 

"What  canst  thou,  idle  boaster,  say, 
To  prove  that  Night  excels  the  Day? 
If  stubborn  still,  let  Him  decide 
With  whom  all  truth  and  law   abide; 
Let  Nasur  Ahmed,   wise  as  great, 
Pronounce  and  give  to  each  his  state.* 


INDEX  TO   NOTES 


•ADEN,  pearls  of,  146. 

Ahmed  Mukhter,  40. 

A-lestu,  191. 

Alexander  the  Great,  53. 

Almond  blossom,  silver  coins  com- 
pared to,  70. 

Aloes-wood,  54. 

Ambergris,  hair  compared  to,  43. 

Amu,  the  River  Oxus,  87. 

Angels  worship  Adam,  131. 

'Anga.,  5. 

Answer  to  Sultan  Murad's  Riddle, 
223. 

Antimony,  used  for  painting  the 
eyelids,  152. 

Apple,  chin  compared  to,  47. 

Arrow,  glance  compared  to,  153. 

'Arsh,  28,  82,  274. 

Asef,  Solomon's  Vez/r,  107. 

'Asr,  1 08. 

Autumn  personified  as  a  Merchant, 
'75- 

BABES,  tears  compared  to,  209. 
Ban,  Oriental  willow,  32 ;  Sclavonic 

title,  284. 

Basil,  hair  compared  to,  56. 
«  Beauty    and    Love,^    poem    of 

Galib,  252. 
Beggar's  bowl  compared  to  tiara, 

239- 

Behram,  215. 
Bird's  language,  263. 
Bishop  at  Chess  called  (<  Elephant, w 

88. 

B/sitwn,  10. 
Blinding-needle,  238. 
Blood,  to  shed  tears  of,  to  drink, 

77;  hearts  turned  to,  126. 
Blue  and  green  confused,  122. 


Bow,  eyebrow  compared  to,  made 

of  green  poplar,  153. 
Box-tree,  elegant  figure  compared 

to,  32. 
Bride's    face    adorned    with    gilt 

spangles,  97. 
Bulbul,  76. 
Burn,  centre  of  tulip  compared  to, 

61. 

CANDY,  137. 

Caravan,  124. 

Casket,  mouth  compared  to,  130. 

Cheeks  compared  to  tulips,  145. 

Chess,  193,  220. 

Chin  compared  to  apple,  47. 

China  famed  for  musk,  52. 

Circumambient  Ocean,  6. 

Climates,  the  Seven,  9. 

Clouds,  hair  compared  to,  139. 

Comb,  said  to  bite,  148. 

(<  Coral-prayer, »  225. 

Cup-bearer,  30. 

Cypress,  emblem  of  a  graceful  fig- 
ure, 32 ;  planted  near  streams, 
253- 

DARA  (Darius),  200. 

Darknesses,  the  Land  and  Sea  of, 

53- 

Da.ru-  s-Sel&m,  246. 

Dawn,  face  compared  to,  13. 

Dawns,  « False »  and  ^True,8  159. 

Destiny,  114. 

Dew  compared  to  perspiration, 
147. 

Dew-drops  compared  to  gipsy- 
party,  72. 

«D/w«n  of  '^4shiq  Pasha, »  2. 

Dog-rose,  face  compared  to,  145. 
(347) 


348 


INDEX 


Down  (on  face)  compared  to  writ- 
ing, 51;  called  «  green, »  55. 

Dregs  thrown  aside  after  drinking, 
197. 

Du'a.,  36. 

Du.d,  meaning  « smoke®  and 
«sigh,»  134. 

Duldul,  'Ab''s  mule,  235. 

Durr-i  Shekva.r,  58. 

EAR,  Rose's,  205. 

Eb«-Hanzfa,  222. 

Ebu-Qasim,  29. 

Edirna  (Adrianople),  244. 

Egg,  red,  270. 

Egyptian  horse,  278. 

Elephant,  the  Bishop  at  Chess,  88 ; 

driver,  Saturn  personified  as, 

172. 

Erdesh/r,  213. 
Eye  compared  to  narcissus,  16 ;  to 

a  metallic  mirror,  129;  fount  of 

the,  140. 
Eyebrow  painted  with  indigo,  153 ; 

compared  to  a  bow,  153;  to  the 

letter  A"u#,  167. 
Eyelids   painted  'with   antimony, 

152- 

FACE  compared  to  the  dawn,  13 ;  to 
the  day,  18;  to  the  moon,  18, 
139;  to  the  dog-rose,  145. 

Fate,  114. 

Per  had,  10. 

Fes,  Turkish  cap,  233. 

Flowers,  wounds  compared  to,  92. 

Fortune,  114. 

Fortunes,  the  Two  (in  Astrology), 
78. 

Fount  of  the  eye,  140. 

Fountain  of  Life,  53. 

Four-eyebrowed,  75. 

GABRIEL,  7. 

Gazi  ve  SheK\d,  210. 

Girl,  called  a  Moon,  n  ;  a  Picture, 
93;  a  Parrot,  115;  a  Paynim, 
190 ;  a  Torment,  195 ;  an  Idol, 
337- 


Glance  compared  to  a  shaft,  153. 
Gnat  and  Nimrod,  241. 
Grain  of  the  Heart,  283. 
Greek,  64,   259;  Greeks  unable  to 

pronounce  Turkish,  263,  264. 
Green  and  blue  confused,  122. 
Gul  u  Buldul,  poem  of  Fazl/,  161. 


a  name  of  the 
Prophet,  27. 

Hair  compared  to  serpents,  12  ;  to 
hyacinth,  16;  to  musk,  17;  to 
ambergris,  43  ;  to  basil,  56  ;  to 
clouds,  139;  to  Scorpio's  claws, 
144;  waist  compared  to,  240. 

Handkerchiefs  (painted)  sent  in 
presents,  66. 

Hands  of  the  plane-tree,  99. 

Harp,  31. 

Hayder,  surname  of  'Alt',  235. 

Helagw,  232. 

Heng&ma,  70. 

Hij&z,  name  of  a  province  and  of 
a  musical  mode,  85,  179. 

Hinna.,  100. 

Huma.,  203. 

Humay,  Queen  of  Persia,  250. 

Huris,  21,  160. 

Husn-i  Ta'lil,  46,  178,  180,  202. 

^Husn  u  'fsfy,»  poem  of  Galib, 
252. 

Hyacinth,  hair  compared  to,  16. 

IBL/S,  90. 

Idol,  pretty  girl  compared  to,  237. 

'Imran,  269. 

Infidel,   pretty  girl  compared  to, 

190. 
Infortunes,    the   Two    (in   Astrol- 

ogy), 78- 
/ran,  81. 
'Ir&q,  name  of  a  province  and  of  a 

musical  mode,  85. 
Irem,  182. 
Isfahan,  86. 
Iskender,  53. 
«  Iskender-Na-ma?  poem  of  Ah- 

medi,  5. 


INDEX 


349 


Istambol,  81,  244. 

JEM,  277. 

Jemsh/d,  63. 

Jesus,  his  needle,    119;   physician 

compared  to,  189. 
Jinn,  3. 
Joseph,  95,  168. 
Judas-tree,  94. 
Juniper,  elegant  figure  compared 

to,  32. 
Jupiter,  the  Greater  Fortune,  78; 

personified,  84;  Sphere  of,  84. 


,  36. 

Kevn  u  Mekan,  57. 
Kevser,  a  river  of  Paradise,  21  ; 
gracious  speech  compared  to, 

50- 

Key,  29. 
Keya.n\,  174. 
Key-Khusrev,  60. 
Key-Qub<zd,  176. 
Khatt,  51  ;  Khatt-i  sebz,  55. 
Khizr,  53. 

Khusrev,  10,  60,  65. 
Khusrev&n\,  174. 
Kimiy&,  157. 
Kiss  called  a  peach,  48. 
Kuhl,  86. 


25. 

Leylz,  154. 
Libra,  95. 
Life,  the  Fountain,  or  Water,  of, 

53- 
Lily,  leaf  of,  compared  to  a  sword, 

163. 
Lips,   compared  to  rubies  and  to 

wine,  23. 

Lote-tree  of  Paradise,  187. 
Lugaz,  223. 

MAGI  AN,  245. 

Mansions  of  Paradise,  28. 
Mars,    the   Lesser   Infortune,    78; 
Sphere  of,  84;  personified,  84. 
Mejn«n,  154. 
Merdumek,  155 


Merjun  Du'asz,  225. 
^Mihnet-Kesho.n,'t)  poem  of  Izzet, 

Molla,  282. 
Mihr,  128. 
Mzhra.b,  36. 

Mirror,  eye  compared  to,  129. 
Mole,  166. 
Moon,  girl  compared  to,   n;  face 

compared    to,    18,    139,    144; 

Sphere  of,  84;  personified,  84; 

rent  in  twain,  118;  masculine 

when  personified,  149. 
Moth,  91. 
Mouth,    compared  to  Suleyman's 

Seal,  and  to  a  casket,  130. 
Mu'amma.,  223. 
^Muhammedtyya?  poem  of  Yaziji- 

Og. 

Mun&ja.t,  227. 
Musical  Modes,  85. 
Musk,  hair  compared  to,  17;  best 

comes  from  Tatary,  52 ;  mole 

compared  to,  166. 
Mutazadd,  192. 

NARCISSUS,  eye  compared  to,  16. 

Nargila,  243. 

JVazira,  54. 

Needle  of  Jesus,  119. 

Ner/man,  273. 

Nev-R-Q.z,  214. 

Nightingale     enamored     of     the 

Rose,  76. 
Nimrod,  241. 
Nz'rem,  273. 

Nun,  eyebrow  compared  to,  167. 
TVur-z  Ahmed,  71. 
Nur-t  Muhammed,  116. 

PALM-TREE,  elegant  figure  com- 
pared to,  32. 

Paradise,  description  of,  21;  man- 
sions of,  28 ;  youths  and  h«r*s 
of,  1 60. 

Parrot,  pretty  woman  compared 
to,  115. 

Peach,  name  for  a  kiss,  48. 

Peacock  of  Eden,  213. 


35° 


INDEX 


Pearls,  58;  formed  of  rain  or  dew- 
drops,  133;  of  'Aden,  146. 

Pebble  thrown  into  cup,  198. 

Peri,  268. 

Persians  called  «  Gold-Heads,»  82. 

Perspiration  compared  to  dew, 
147. 

Philosopher's  Stone,  157. 

Physician  compared  to  Jesus,  189. 

Picture,  pretty  girl  so  called,  93. 

Pigeon  (tumbler),  rosebud  com- 
pared to,  103. 

Pine-tree,  elegant  figure  compared 
to,  32. 

Pistachio,  tongue  compared  to,  137. 

Plane-tree,  hands  of,  99. 

Plato,  217. 

Poplar,  bows  made  from,  153. 

QADER,  114. 
Qadr,  114. 

fia/,  5- 

Qahraman,  177. 
Qalender,  216. 
Qamer,  149. 
Qat&d,  226. 
Qaz&,  114. 
Qtsmet,  114. 
Qtya.m,  180. 
Qtzil-Bash,  82. 
Qoqona,  267. 

Qur'an,  quoted,  21,  24,  26,  118,  181, 
191,  230,  281,  286. 

RA.FIZI,  221. 

Rebeck,  31. 

Reng  u  SVL,  34. 

Rengin,  255. 

Rij&l-i  Gayb,  38. 

Ring  of  Suleyman,  125. 

Rome,  64,  259. 

Rose,  the  Nightingale  enamored  of 

the,  76. 
<(  Rose  and  Nightingale, »  poem  of 

Fazlz,  161. 
Rosebud    compared    to    tumbler 

pigeon,  103. 


Rubies,     lips    compared    to,    23; 

formed  from  common  stones, 

127. 

Rukh  (the  bird),  6. 
Rukh,  Castle  at  Chess,  193,  220. 
R-o.hu- 'I- Emin,  7. 
R-^m,  64,  259. 
Rwm-Eyli,  33. 
Rustem,  199. 
Rnz-K&r,  114. 

SAKHR,  125. 

Sala.t,  36. 

Sam,  273. 

Saturn,  the  greater  Infortune,  78; 

Sphere  of,  84;  personified,  84, 

172. 

Scio  Rose,  280. 

Scorpio,  curls  compared  to,  144. 
Sebz,  122. 
Serpents,  tresses  compared  to,  12, 

45- 

Seven  Climates,  9. 
Sk&m\,  179,  246. 
Sharq\,  279. 
Skehr-engiz,  224. 
Shems,  149. 
Sh/r/'n,  10. 
Shooting  stars,  101. 
Signs  of  the  Zodiac,  14. 
Silvery,  delicate,  150. 
Simurg,  6. 
Sirat,  Bridge  of,  234. 
Sphere,  the  (Fate),  114. 
Spheres,  the  Nine  Ptolemaic,  84. 
Stones  turned  into  rubies,  127. 
SuJMd,  1 80. 

Suleyman  (Solomon),  125. 
Suleyman's    Seal,    125;    a    pretty 

mouth  compared  to,  130. 
Sun,  Sphere  of  the,  84;  personified, 

84,  149,  171. 
Surma,  152. 
Sword,  lily-leaf  compared  to,  163. 

TAKHALLVS,  35. 
Takhm\s,  287. 


INDEX 


Tambourinist,  Sun  personified  as, 

171. 

Taper,  91,  132. 
Ta.rikh,  285. 

Tatary,  famed  for  musk,  52. 
Tattooing,  142. 
Tears,  of  blood,  77;  compared  to 

babes,  209. 
Tejn'is,  109. 
Thorn,   said   to   wound    Nightin- 

gale, 164. 
Tiara,  239. 

Tobacco,  to  drink,  243. 
Tongue,    compared    to    pistachio, 

137- 
Torment,   a  pretty  girl  so  styled, 

195- 

Tuba,  a  tree  in  Paradise,  21,  28. 
Tulip,  heart  of,  compared  to  burn, 

61  ;  cheek  compared  to,  145. 
42. 


VELI,  39. 

Venus,   the    Lesser    Fortune,    78; 
Sphere  of,  84;  personified,  84. 

WAIST,  subtle  allusion  compared 

to,  1  86;   compared   to  a  hair, 

240. 

Water  of  Life,  53. 
Willow,  emblem  of  a  graceful  fig- 

ure, 32. 
Wine,  lips  compared  to,  23;  sold 

by  Magians,  245. 
Worlds,  eighteen  thousand,  4. 
Worship,  36. 
Wounds  compared  to  flowers,  92. 

YOUTHS  of  Paradise,  95,  160. 


[/MMU-'L-BILAD,  title  of  Cairo,  275. 
Uskuf,  kind  of  head-dress,  165. 


poem    of    Fazil, 
256. 

Zodiac,  signs  of,  14. 
Zodiacal  light,  159. 
Zuleykha,  95. 


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